JHAKSPERE 

.OSSARY, GRAMMAR, ETC. 
FLETCHER 




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A Brief Shaksperean Glossary 



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A Brief Shaksperean Glossary 

Grammar, and Booklet of Other Information 

Necessary to Students 



By 
Robert Huntington Fletcher, Ph. D. 

Professor of English Literature in Grinnell College, Author of 

"Tennyson and Browning, a Manual for Students," and 

"The Arthurian Material in the Chronicles" 



GRINNELL, IOWA 
NINETEEN THIRTEEN 



.F4r 



COPYRIGHT 1913 BY 
ROBERT HUNTINGTON FLETCHER 



THE TORCH PRESS 

CEDAR RAPIDS 

IOWA 



©CI.A354211 



TO 

CHARLES PARKER CHASE 

AND 

FANNY HUNTINGTON CHASE 



PREFACE 

The purpose of this booklet is to present in a more 
convenient form than any hitherto accessibl some of 
the important elementary information necessary to the 
study and understanding of Shakspere's plays. My 
idea is that it may be put into the hands of students at 
the beginning of their work with directions to learn a 
small part every day until they have masterd at least 
the most significant portions of the glossary and the 
grammar. 

The glossary aims merely to include, with adequate 
definition and illustration, those important words 
(about 330) which Shakspere uses in senses which are 
different from the present ones or which are not sure 
to be familiar to present-day students. 

The abstract of the grammar is compild on the same 
principles. The other sections should be self-explan- 
atory. 

Any member of English 2 at Harvard during the 
last twenty years will see at a glance my large in- 
detedness to Professor Kittredge. Otherwise, apart 
from that experience to which my students have con- 



tributed, I am chiefly under obligations to Bartlett's ' 
Concordance to Shakespeare, Abbott's Shakespearian 
Grammar, Schmidt's Shakespeare-Lexicon, and The 
Century Dictionary; very slightly to Cunliffe's New 
Shakespearean Dictionary and Tolman's Questions on 
Shakespeare, Part I. 

In quotations from Shakspere I have printed -ed or 
-d in each case according to the testimony of the 
meter (generally -d in prose passages), not according 
to the "humour" of the Elizabethan compositor. 
Otherwise I have not, of course, tamperd with the 
Elizabethan spelling; but in my own composition I 
have ' uscl a very moderate number of simplified spell- 
ings. The use is on principl; the moderation in sub- 
mission to the gradual nature of all progress. I have 
felt free to punctuate Shakspere according to my own 
judgment. In other respects, generally speaking, the 
text which I have followd is Neilson's. 

For any friendly corrections or suggestions I shall 
be grateful. R. H. F. 

August, 1913. 



CONTENTS 

I Foreword. The Study of Shakspere . 1 

II Bibliografy 5 

III A Glossary of the Most Important 
• Words ix which Shakspere's Usage 

Differs from that of the Present 

Time ' 12 

IV A Brief Grammatical Abstract . -. 45 
Y Shakspere's Verse and Prose ... 61 

VI The Range of Shakspere's Plays, and 

the Types to which They Belong . 68 

VII Dates, Order, and Sources of the Plays 73 
The Evidence for Shakspere's Author- 
ship of the Plays . . . . 73 

The Kinds of Evidence for the Order 
and Dates of Shakspere's Plays . 75 

Shakspere's Sources .... 79 

Shakspere's General Professional De- 
velopment 80 

A List of Shakspere's Plays in Approx- 
imate Order, with the Important 
Known Facts about Dates and 
Sources 81 



I. FOREWORD. THE STUDY OF SHAKSPERE 

The chief object of the study of Shakspere's plays, 
as of any works of literature, should be the under- 
standing and appreciation of the plays as literature, 
that is, as an expression, portrayal, and interpretation 
of life. The result of this study is the broadening and 
deepening of our consciousness and comprehension of 
the facts, problems, and meanings of life, on both its 
external and its spiritual sides, and of human charac- 
ters and human nature. Specifically, the study in- 
cludes consideration of these things : the main mean- 
ings of each play, for exampl in Macbeth the ruin of a 
potentially nobl nature thro yielding to evil ; the char- 
acters — - the skill with which they are presented, the 
range and contrasts in character, and careful consider- 
ation of the character of each important person ; 
further, the poetic (imaginativ) beauty of Shakspere's 
expression (language), since art and beauty add al- 
most infinitly to the attractivness, perhaps to the 
significance, of bare truth. 

But tho these matters are of first importance, there 
are several others which should not be neglected. 
Another main one is the technical structure of the 



2 SHAKSPERE 

plays. Here, first, belong the general principles of 
structure which are common to all narrativ forms of 
literature, namely: Unity, the question how skillfully 
Shakspere has limited himself in each play to the pre- 
sentation of one story, idea, or effect, or two or more 
properly related ones ; Movement, the success and 
vigor with which the play progresses and holds our 
interest ; Plot-development, the skill with which, after 
being set in motion at the beginning, the play is made 
to advance stedily toward its climax a little beyond 
the middl, or its climax and outcome at the end; the 
vivid Emfasis of strong situations; proper Variety of 
characters, scenes, moods, and effects; and the other, 
minor, principles. The more special points of dra- 
matic technique should also be considered, such as the 
skill with which the necessary condensation of the 
action and of the time represented is accomplisht, thro 
the methods of selection of details, narrativ summary, 
ingenious manipulation of time, and other devices by 
which the illusion of reality is evolvd from the dra- 
matic form, in part merely symbolic rather than di- 
rectly representativ. 

Essential, also, to the student is some knowledge of 
Shakspere's life and general development as man and 
author, without which no writer's work can ever be 
thoroly understood. 

Equally important is a knowledge of the literary in- 



FOREWORD 3 

fluences and conditions which affected Shakspere ; for 
exampl the previous development of the drama in Eng- 
land, the nature of the work of Shakspere's immediate 
predecessors and their influence on him ; the general 
tenor of Elizabethan thot, the spirit of Elizabethan 
life, and the general history of the time : and the spe- 
cial Elizabethan literary conventions and tendencies, , 
such as the identification of the dramatists with the 
Court party and the fondness for word-plays and 
"conceits,'' which pall on present-day readers in some 
of Shakspere's plays. 

Again, there must be study of the language and 
grammar of the plays in so far as they differ from 
our own usage — this is indispensabl for any sound 
understanding of the plays. 

It is desirabl that some (comparativly slight) at- 
tention be givn to Shakspere's sources — the histories, 
biografies, stories, and other works on which he basd 
almost all his plays. This study throws much light 
on Shakspere's imaginativ genius and his skill as a 
contructiv artist. 

Some acquaintance with the construction and equip- 
ment of the Elizabethan stage and the Elizabethan 
manner of presenting plays are also a part of a com- 
plete Shakspere curriculum; but except in some (in- 
dispensabl) brief summary such matters are too techn- 
ical for anv but advanct students. 



4 SHAKSPERE 

Lastly, thoro knowledge involves textual study, a 
consideration of the variant readings of the early edi- 
tions, the principles of emendation, and the very ex- 
tensiv work of later editors, in the necessary effort to 
free the text from its countless corruptions and to 
restore it as nearly as possibl to the form in which 
Shakspere wrote it. But this study also is mostly for 
mature students, and it is part of the work of a modern 
editor to present its results to readers without dis- 
cussion. 

Any really complete general course in Shakspere, 
then, must deal, to some extent or another, with all 
these matters, or most of them; but to give full em- 
fasis to all of them in any one year of study is im- 
possibl ; the question of the proportion between them 
has to be decided in each separate case. It is the ob- 
ject of the present booklet to afford convenient help 
in several of them, mostly in a merely informational 
way. 



II. BIBLIOGRAFY 

I. GENERAL INTRODUCTIONS, ETC. 

Of general introductions to Shakspere two are to 
be mentiond : 

1. Edward Dowden. Shakspere. (Primer). Amer- 
ican Book Co., 35 cents. 

2. H. X. MacCracken and Others. Introduction 
to Shakspeare. Macmillan, 90 cents. One or the 
other of these books every student should own. The 
second is fuller and much later than the first and on 
the whole to be preferrd to it, except as regards appre- 
ciative comment on the individual plays, in which Pro- 
fessor Dowden is decidedly superior. 

Here belongs also : 

A. H. Tolman. Questions on Shakespeare, six 
volumes (two publish! up to 1913). University of 
Chicago Press, from 75 cents to $1.00 a volume; also 
the Questions on eight of the plays in paper, 17 cents 
each. Useful. 

II. BIOGRAFIES 

The standard Life of Shakspere is that by Sidney 
Lee. Macmillan, $2.25. 



6 SHAKSPERE 

^ J. O. Halliwell-Phillipps, Outlines of the Life of 
Shakspere, two volumes, Longmans, $6, reprints the 
original documents fully and carefully. 

In the Life by W. J. Rolfe (Dana, Estes, and Co., 
pp. 551, $3.00) the discussion of the facts and tra- 
ditions of Shakspere's life is full and interesting. 

III. EDITIONS 

Distinctly the best one-volume edition (tho the print 
is necessarily fine) is the "Cambridge" by W. A. Neil- 
son; Houghton, Mifflin, $3. It has no notes, but has 
excellent brief introductions, both on Shakspere's life 
and development in general, and for the individual 
plays. 

^ The Oxford three-volume edition, Oxford Univer- 
sity Press, 50 cents a volume, is excellent. The type 
is admirabl, and there are good introductions to the 
plays, by Professor Dowden. Unluckily the line-num- 
bering is not that made standard by the "Globe" and 
"Cambridge" editions, .and there are no notes. 
^ The same edition is printed in nine volumes, pocket- 
size, at 25 cents a volume. 

The ten-volume "Eversley" edition by C. H. Her- 
ford, Macmillan, $10, has excellent introductions, and 
helpful, tho brief, footnotes. 

Among the best of the numerous one-play-to-a-vol- 
ume editions are: 



BIBLIOGRAFY 7 

The "Tudor", by various editors, Macmillan, 25, 
35, and 55 cents a volume. Especially useful for the 
brief but comprehensiv introductions, which are the 
latest. 

The school edition of W. J. Rolfe, American Book 
Co., 56 cents a vol. Especially full in notes ; expur- 
gated. 

The "Temple", of Israel Gollancz, Dutton, 35 and 
55 cents a volume. 

The "Arden", by various editors, Heath, 25 cents a 
volume. Includes only selected plays. 

The "School Temple", Holt, 35 cents a volume. On- 
ly selected plays. 

The most fully and satisfactorily annotated edition 
at anything which can be calld a moderate price is the 
"Dowden", by various editors, Bobbs-Merrill Co., In- 
dianapolis. SI. 25 a volume. 

The most valuabl of all editions is the "Variorum" 
of Dr. H. H. Furness and his son, Lippincott, S4 a 
volume, now including about half the plays. This 
contains for each play : the most important sources, in 
full or in condenst form ; very full annotation of all 
kinds ; and much miscellaneous editorial material. 
Every student ought to have some acquaintance with it 
and to use it occasionally ; but it is too elaborate for 
constant use except in special study. 

The typografically most beautiful edition of special 



8 SHAKSPERE 

value is the "Cambridge", by W. A. Wright, Mac- 
millan, nine volumes, $3.00 a volume. The notes are 
merely textual, but are authoritativ in that field. 

IV. WORKS OF APPRKCIATIV CRITICISM 

which deal with each of the plays, or with a number 
of them, singly 

F. S. Boas. Shakspere and his Predecessors. Scrib- 
ner, $1.50. The Predecessors occupy only a small 
part of the book. Perhaps on the whole the best work 
in this class. 

Walter Raleigh. Shakespeare, in "English Men of 
Letters" Series. Macmillan, 75 cents. Necessarily 
brief, but admirabl. 

Barrett Wendell. William Shakspere. Scribner, 
$1.75. Not profound, but very suggestiv. 

Georg Brandes. William Shakespeare. Macmil- 
lan, $2.60. Brilliant; sometimes over-imaginativ. 

A. C. Bradley. Shakespearean Tragedy. Macmil- 
lan, $3.25. Deals only with Hamlet, Othello, King 
Lear, and Macbeth. Not brilliant, but very thoro, 
and indispensabl in the study of these plays. 

Edward Dowden. Shakspere, His Mind and Art. 
Harper, $1.75. 

Walter Bagehot. Shakespeare the Man. Double- 
day, 50 cents. A delightful little sketch. 

R. G. Moulton. Shakespeare as a Dramatic Artist. 



BIBLIOGRAFY 9 

Oxford University Press, $1.90. Deals with selected 
plays. Often highly suggestiv, tho often over-ingen- 
ious and over-subtile. 

Stopford A. Brooke. On Ten Plays of Shakspeare ; 
also On Ten Further Plays of Shakespeare. Holt, 
$2.25 each. 

S. T. Coleridge. Lectures and Notes on Shakes- 
peare. In "Everyman" Library, Dutton, 35 cents. 
Fragmentary but valuabl. 

William Hazlitt. The Characters of Shakespeare's 
Plays. "Everyman" Library, 35 cents. A work of 
the early Nineteenth Century and not profound, but 
useful. 

Mrs. Anna Jameson. Shakespeare's Heroines. 
"Everyman" Library, etc. Over-sentimental, but ap- 
preciate. 

Two especially important books on Hamlet are : 

C. M. Lewis. The Genesis of Hamlet. Holt, $1.25. 

John Corbin. The Elizabethan Hamlet. Scribner. 
Out of print. 

V. REPRINTS OE SHAKSPERE'S SOURCES 

W. C. Hazlitt. Shakspeare's Library. Six vol- 
umes, London, 1876. Now out of print, but to be had 
for about S20.00 or less. Reprints all the sources 
known at the time of publication except the chronicles. 

W. G. Boswell-Stone. Shakespere's Holinshed. 
Duffield, S3. 50. Reprints all the relevant parts of 



10 SHAKSPERE 

Holinshed, tho with condensation, and with conven- 
ient coordination with Shakspere's text. 

W. W. Skeat. Shakespeare's Plutarch. Macmil- 
lan, $1.50. Reprints the relevant Lives. 

The various volumes in the Variorum edition, above 
mentiond. 

Joseph Jacobs. Painter's Palace of Pleasure. Lon- 
don, three volumes. 

H. R. D. Anders. Shakespeare's Books. Berlin. 
Aims to list and discuss all instances, large and small, 
of use of other books by Shakspere. Useful. 

VI. LINGUISTIC WORKS 

John Bartlett. Concordance to Shakespeare. Mac- 
millan, $7.50. Virtually complete, and a monumental 
tho not flawless work. Useful chiefly for special 
study. 

R. J. Cunliffe. A New Shakspearean Dictionary. 
Scribner, $2.50. About intermediate in size and other 
respects between the glossary in the present booklet 
and : 

Alexander Schmidt. Shakespeare-Lexicon. Stechert, 
New York, two volumes, $8.00. A complete diction- 
ary with exhaustiv citations. For special study. 

E. A. Abbott. A Shakespearean Grammar. Mac- 
millan, $1.50. The standard work; rather detaild, ex- 
cept for special study. 



BIBLIOGRAFY 11 

VII. MISCELLANEOUS WORKS 

H. T. Stephenson. Shakespeare's England. Holt, 
$2.00. Yaluabl, tho somewhat carelessly writtn. 

William Winter. Shakespeare's England. Gros- 
sett and Dunlap, 75 cents. Out of print. 

L. C. Elson. Shakspeare in Music. L. C. Page, 
$2.00. Explains the music of Shakspere's time and 
his allusions to it. 

William Winter. The Life and Art of Edwin 
Booth. Publisht in various editions. Xow out of 
print, but to be had for a dollar or two. Valuabl for 
Booth's interpretations of various important Shaks- 
perean parts. 



III. A GLOSSARY OF THE MOST IMPORTANT 
WORDS IN WHICH SHAKSPERE'S USAGE 
DIFFERS FROM THAT OF THE PRES- 
ENT TIME 

For the most part, only meanings now obsolete or 
comparativly unfamiliar at present are here noticed. 
It should be understood that with less than a dozen 
exceptions the words included sometimes occur also 
in Shakspere in the modern meaning or meanings or 
one of them. 

The significance of the abbreviations of the names 
of the plays, if- not clear at a glance, can be easily 
learnd from the list of plays below, pp. 81-90. 

The student will notice that in Shakspere's usage 
many words keep closer than at present to their orig- 
inal senses (inevitably, since most words have a general 
tendency to shift their meanings progressivly with 
time). This is especially true in the case of words of 
Latin origin. 

'A. The printer's form for the colloquial pronunciation of 
he, as in quoth 'a. Hostess: 'A made a finer end. Hen. 
V, II iii 11. 



GLOSSARY 13 

Absolute. 1. Precise, dogmatic, unyielding. Yolumnia : You 

are too absolute. Cor., Ill ii 39. 

2. Absolutely complete or good. Constable : 

it is a most absolute and excellent horse. Hen. V, 111 

vii 27. ' 

Abuse. Deceiv, deceit. Hamlet: Abuses me to damn me. 

Ham., II ii 632. 
Ache. Was pronounct with the ch as in our church. This 

was also the pronunciation of the name of the letter h. 

Hence such puns as : Margaret : For a hawk, a horse, 

or a husband? Beatrice: For the letter that begins 

them all, H. Much Ado, III iv 56. 
Act. Action. Duke : To the last hour of act. M. of V., 

IV i 19. 
Adamant. Magnet (thro mistaken etymology, as if from 

ad-amare) . 
Addition. 1. Title. Cassio : you give me the addition 

Whose want even kills me. Oth., IV i 105. 

2. Appurtenances. Lear : The name, and all the 

addition, to a king. Lear, I i 138. 
Address. Direct, turn to, prepare. Florizel : Address your- 
self to entertain [your guests]. W. T., IV iv 53. 
Admirable, admiration, and admire often have the literal 

meaning of wonder. Lady M. : You have . . broke the 

good meeting With most admir'd disorder. Mac, III iv 

110. 
Advertise. Inform. Warwick: I was advertised That she 

was coming. Ill Hen. VI, II i 116. 
Advise. Instruct, inform. Macbeth : I will advise you where 

to plant yourselves. Mac, III i 129. 
Advised. Warnd, considerate, careful, wise, premeditated. 

Worcester: be advis'd; stir not tonight. I Hen. IV, IV 



14 SHAKSPERE 

iii 5. Richard : Nor never bv advised purpose meet. 
Rich. II, I iii 188. 

Affect, affection. That to which one is affected; inclination 
or disposition in general, or any particular inclination or 
disposition. Biron: For every man with his affects is 
born. L. L. L., I i 152. King: Love! his affections do 
not that way tend. Ham., Ill i 170. 

Affront. Meet, confront. King:That he . . may here 
Affront Ophelia. Ham., Ill i 31. 

Amaze. Strike into a maze, stupefy. Lysander : I shall re- 
ply amazedly, Half sleep, half waking. M. N. D., IV i 
151. 

An, and, an if, and if. If. 

Ancient. (By mere corruption of the form.) Ensign, i. e. 
second lieutenant. 

Annoy (verb and noun). Hurt, harm, sorrow. Ghosts: Good 
angels guard thee from the boar's annoy. Rich. Ill, V 
iii 156. 

Argument. Subject, cause. Benedick: become the argument 
of his own scorn by falling in love. Much Ado, II iii 11. 

Aspect (always accented on the last syllabi). Generally usd 
with consciousness of the technical astrological mean- 
ing — the appearance of the planets at any givn time, 
supposd to determine men's fortunes. Hermione : till the 
heavens look With an aspect more favourable. W. T., 
II i 107. 

Assume. Put on, acquire (without the idea of pretense). 
Hamlet: Assume a virtue if you have it not. Ham., Ill 
iv 160. 

Astonish. Amaze, stupefy. Casca : send Such dreadful her- 
alds to astonish us. J. C, I iii 56. 

Atone. Be at one, or make at one. Richard : Since we can- 
not atone you. Rich II, I i 202. 



GLOSSARY 15 

Aunt. Loose woman (slang). 

Avoid. Depart, leave. Lear: Hence, and avoid ray sight! 
Lear, I i 126. 

Awkward. Left-banded, indirect, contrary. Queen : by awk- 
ward wind from England's bank Drove back. II Hen. 
VI, HI ii 83. 

Baffle. Disgrace, treat with contempt, cheat. Falstaff: An I 

do not, call me villain and baffle me. I Hen. IV, I ii 113. 
Baked Meats. Meat pies. R. and J., IV iv 5. Ham., I ii 

180. 
Balk. Heap up. King : two and twenty knights Balk'd in 

their own blood. I Hen. IV, I i 69. 
Bane. Death, destruction. Macbeth: I will not be afraid of 

death and bane. Mac, V iii 59. 
Banquet. Light refreshments. Capulet : We have a trifling 

foolish banquet towards. R. and J., I v 124. 
Basilisk. A fabulous serpent supposd to kill with its look ; 

hence a kind of cannon. 
Bate. Beat the wings, flutter. Constable: Tis a hooded 

valour; and when it appears, it will bate [with a pun]. 

Hen. V, III vii 122. 
.Beshrew. Curse (often usd mildly). 
Bird-bolt. A blunt-headed arrow, intended to stun, not to 

wound. 
Birth. Offspring. Iago : Must bring this monstrous birth to 

the world's light. Oth., I iii 410. 
Blank. Target (from French blanc, white). King: As level 

as the cannon to his blank. Ham., IV i 42. 
Blood. Emotion, passion. Albany : Were't my fitness To let 

these hands obey my blood. Lear, IV ii 64. 
Blown. 1. Full-blown (as of flowers). Ophelia: That 



16 SHAKSPERE 

unmatch't form and feature o f blown youth. Ham., Ill 
i 167. 

2. Fly-blown, slimy. Othello: such exsufflicate 
and blown surmises. Oth., Ill iii 182. 

Bottle. 1. Bag, cask. Benedick: hang me in a bottle like 
a cat and shoot at me. Much Ado, I i 259. 

2. Bundle. Bottom : I have a great desire to a 
bottle of hay. M. X. D., IV 37. 

Bowels. Compassion, sympathy, emotions. From the idea 
o f the old physiologists that the bowels were the seat of 
these feelings. Often so usd in the King James Bible. 
Exeter : And bids you, in the bowels of the Lord. Hen. 
V, II iv 102. 

Brave. Fine, handsome. Miranda : O brave new world, That 
has such people in't ! Tp., V 183. 

Bravery. Costly display, ostentation, bravado. Jaques : That 
says his bravery is not on my cost. A. Y. L., II vii 80. 

Brook. Endure. Hotspur : I better brook the loss of brittle 
life. I Hen. IV, V iv 78. 

Bug. Frightful creature or thing. (From Welsh bwg, spec- 
ter. Our common meaning, insect, is by particular ap- 
plication of the Shaksperean meaning.) Hamlet: With 
ho! such bugs and goblins in my life. Ham.. V ii 22. 

Bulk. A projecting part of a building. Tago : Here, stand 
behind this bulk. Oth., V i 1. 

Capable. Often usd elliptically, meaning: capabl of under- 
standing or receiving. Hamlet : preaching to stones, 
Would make them capable. Ham., Ill iv 127. 

Censure (verb and noun). Judge and judgment (not neces- 
sarily unfavorabl). Polonius : Take each man's censure, 
but reserve thy judgment. Ham., I iii 69. 

Centre. Center of the earth, and so, according to Ptolemaic 



GLOSSARY 17 

astronomy, of the universe. Romeo : Turn back, dull 

earth, and find thy centre out. R. and J., II i 2. 
Character. To write, handwriting, letters, figures, symbols. 

Polonius : And these few precepts in thy memory See 

thou character. Ham., I iii 59. 
Charity. Love, kindness. (Cf. / Corinthians 13). Henry: 

The dead with charity enclos'd in clay. Hen. V, IV viii 

129. 
Check. 1. Bridle, govern, reprove. Countess: Be check't 

for silence, but never tax'd for speech. All's Well, I i 76. 
2. Stop before, balk at. King: If he be now re- 

turn'd As checking at this voyage. Ham., IV vii 63. 
Ch;de. Chide at, scold. Titania : We shall chide downright 

if I longer stay. M. N. D., II i 145. 
Choler. Often usd literally, meaning the fluid bile, an ex- 
cess of which in the body was supposd to produce choler 

in the present sense, i. e. anger. 
Clip. Embrace. Marcus : O let me clip ve In arms. Cor., 

I vi 29. 
Cog. Cheat. Emilia : Some cogging, cozening slave. Oth., 

IV ii 132. 
Coil. Disturbance, fuss, complication. Hermia : all this coil 

is 'long of you. M. N. D., Ill ii 339. 
Colour. Deceit, pretense, excuse. Cleopatra : seek no colour 

for your going. A. and C, I iii 32. 
Competitor. Colleague. Menenius : These three world- 
sharers, these competitors. A. and C, II vii 76. 
Complement. (Not clearly distinguisht from compliment). 

Grace, accomplishment. Mercutio : O, he's the courageous 

captain of compliments. R. and J., II iv 20. 
Complexion, uality, temperament. Hamlet : By their o'er- 

growth of some complexion. Ham., I iv 27. 
Compliment. Verbosity, circumlocution. Juliet : but fare- 



18 SHAKSPERE 

well compliment! Dost thou love me? R. and J., II 
ii 89. 

Comply. Be courteous to. Hamlet : Let me comply with you 
in the garb (fashion). Ham., Ill ii 390. 

Compromise. Agree. Shylock : When Laban and himself 
were compromised. M. of V., I iii 79. 

Conceit. Conception, thot. understanding, wit. Juliet : The 
horrible conceit of death and night. R. and J., IV iii 37. 

Conceive. Understand. Shallow : Nay, conceive me, con- 
ceive me. Merry Wives, I i 250. 

Conclusion. 1. Deed, a thing done. Othello: But this de- 
noted a foregone conclusion. Oth., Ill iii 428. 

2. Experiment. Caesar : She hath pursu'd con- 
clusions infinite Of easy ways to die. A. and C, V ii 358. 

Condition. 1. Temperament. Portia: If he had the condi- 
tion of a saint and the complexion of a devil. M. of V., 
I ii 143. 

2. Rank. Ferdinand : I am in my condition A 
prince. Tp., Ill i 59. 

Conduct. Conductor. Romeo : And fire-eyed fury be my 
conduct now ! R. and J., Ill i 129. 

Confound. (Literally, pour together — Latin con-funderc) . 
Destroy, waste, use up. Hotspur : He did confound the 
best part of an hour. I Hen. IV. I iii 100. 

Confusion. Destruction, ruin. Macduff: Confusion now 
hath made his masterpiece. Mac, II iii 71. 

Conscience. Taking thot with oneself. Hamlet : Thus con- 
science does make cowards of us all. Ham., Ill i 83. 

Consequence. Conclusion. Polonius : He closes with you in 
this consequence. Ham., II i 45. 

Constantly. Firmly. Cassius : I am . . resolv'd To meet 
all perils very constantly. J. C, V i 92. 

Continent. Anything which contains anything else. Hamlet : 



GLOSSARY 19 

a plot . . Which is not tomb enough and continent To 
hide the slain. Ham., IV iv 64. 

Convenience. Favorabl or appropriate circumstances, suita- 
bility. Kent : Which, if convenience will not allow, Stand 
in hard cure. Lear, III vi 106. 

Convenient. Suitabl, fit. Portia : get thee gone. Balthazar 
(her servant) : I go with all convenient speed. M. of V., 
Ill iv 56*. 

Conversation. 1. Intercourse. Hamlet: Horatio, thou art 
e'en as just a man As e'er my conversation cop'd withal. 
Ham., Ill ii 60. 

2. Manners, character. Enobarbus : Octavia 
is of a holy, cold, and still conversation. A. and C, II 
vi 131. 

Convey. To manage a thing secretly or artfully, to trick, to 
steal. Benedick: huddling jest upon jest with such im- 
possible conveyance upon me. Much Ado, II i 253 

Convince. Overcome. Doctor : Their malady convinces The 
great assay of art. Mac, IV iii 142. 

Counterfeit. Imitate, imitation, picture. Bassanio : Fair Por- 
tia's counterfeit. M. of V., Ill ii 116. 

County. Count. County Paris in R. and J. 

Court of guard. Guard-house. 

Cousin. "One collaterally related by blood more remotely 
than a brother or sister; hence a term of address used 
by a king to a nobleman, or to a fellow-sovereign." (Cen- 
tury Dictionary.) 

Coxcomb. 1. The fool's cap (because it had a cloth comb 
imitating that of a cock). 

2. The human head (usd ironically, jocosely, 
or contemptuously). Sir Andrew: I think you set nothing 
by a bloody coxcomb. T. N., V i 195. 

Cozen. Cheat, deceiv (originally by pretending to be related 



20 SHAKSPERE 

— a "cousin" — to the victim). Clown: I was cozen cl by 
the way and lost all my money. W. T., IV iv 254. 

Date. Time, duration. Oberon : With league whose date till 
death shall never end. M. N. D., Ill ii 373. 

Dateless. Endless. Richard : The dateless limit of thv dear 
exile. Rich. II, I iii 151. 

Dear. Besides the present meanings — belovd, pf ecious, costly 

— is usd in the general, sense of important, strong, or 
great, also of causes and feelings of hate and loss. I. e. 
(R. G. White), is applied to anything which "affects one 
nearly in either love or hate, joy or sorrow," to advant- 
age or disadvantage. Hotspur : so dangerous and dear a 
trust. I Hen. IV, IV i 34. Prospero : supportable To 
make the dear loss. Tp., V 146. Hamlet : Would I had 
met my dearest [i. e. worst] foe in heaven. Ham., I ii 
182. 

Defeat (Latin de-ficere). Unmake, destroy, destruction. 
Iago : defeat thy favour with an usurp'd beard [i. e.. dis- 
guise your face by growing a beard]. Oth., I iii 345. 
Hamlet: Upon whose property [existence] and most dear 
life A damn'd de f eat was made. Ham., II ii 598. 

Defend. With the name of God or other gods means : forbid. 
Hero : God defend the lute should be like the case. Much 
Ado, II i 98. 

Demerit (Latin demerere). Merit (always). 

Discourse. 1. Power of reasoning. Hamlet: He that made 
us with such large discourse, Looking before and after. 
Ham., IV iv 36. 

2. Intercourse. Ham., Ill i 108. 

Division. Music, song. Literally : "In music, a rapid and 
flowing melodic passage or phrase, usually intended to 
be sung at one breath to a single syllable ; so called be- 



GLOSSARY 21 

I 

cause originally conceived as the elaboration of a phrase 
of long tones by the division of each into several short 
ones." (Century Dictionary.) Juliet: Some say the lark 
makes sweet division. R. and J., Ill v 29. 

Doom. Judgment, Day of Judgment. Juliet: Then, dreadful 
trumpet, sound the general Doom ! R. and J., Ill ii 67. 

Doublet. The garment worn by men over the upper part 
of the body, corresponding in Shakspere's time to the 
modern coat, but thro changes of fashion deeloping into 
the modern waistcoat ("vest"). See Century Dictionary, 
and below, Hose. 

Doubt. Fear, suspect. Hamlet : I doubt some foul play. 
Ham., I ii 256. 

Ducat. A gold coin worth by weight about $2.25. 

Eager (Latin acer). Sharp, acid, biting. Ghost: it doth . 

curd, like eager droppings into milk. Ham., I v 69. 
Ecstasy. Overmastering emotion of any sort ; especially, 

madness. Ophelia : That unmatched form and feature of 

blown youth Blasted with ecstasy. Ham., Ill i 168. 
Election. Choice. Burgundy: Election makes not up on such 

conditions. Lear, I i 209. 
Element. Often usd in accordance with the idea of ancient 

Science that the universe was composd of four elements, 

earth, water, air, and fire. Sometimes denotes specifically 

not only, as at present, winds and waves, but the sky. 

Valentine : The element itself, till seven years' heat, Shall 

not behold her face. T. N., I i 26. 
Engross. Heap up, increase, devour. Romeo : A dateless 

bargain to engrossing death. R. and J., V iii 115. 
Entertain. 1. Admit, receiv, accept, employ. Lear: You, 

sir, I entertain for one of my hundred. Lear, III vi 83. 

2: Give occupation to. Canterbury: O noble 



22 SHAKSPERE 

English, that could entertain With half their forces the 
full pride of France. Hen. V, I ii 111. 
Entertainment. Reception. Polonius : do not dull thy palm 
with entertainment Of each new-hatch'd, unfledg'd com- 
rade. Ham., I iii 64. 
Envious (from Latin invidere, to look askance at). Jealous, 
malicious, hostile, hating. Juliet: Can heaven be so en- 
vious? R. and J, III ii 40. 
Envy. Hate, malice, spite, jealosy. In M. of V. usd often 

of Shylock's attitude toward Antonio. 

Err and error. Usd with more consciousness than at present 

of the literal (Latin) meaning, of: wandering astray. 

Othello : It is the very error of the moon. Oth., V ii 109. 

Estate. Condition, state. Salerio : His letter there will show 

you his estate. M. of V., Ill ii 239. 
Estimation. 1. Reputation. Fluellen : he is a man of no 
estimation in the world. Hen. V, III vi 16. 

2. Value, amount. Portia : if the scale do turn 
But in the estimation of a hair. 'M. of V., IV i 331. 
Excrement. Any part growing out or standing out from the 
surface of anything. Usd especially of the hair. Queen : 
Your bedded hair, like life in excrements. Ham., Ill iv. 
121. 
Exhibit. Present. Mrs. Page: I'll exhibit a bill in the par- 
liament. Merry Wives, II i 28. 
Exhibition. That which is presented, charity. Gloucester: 

the King . . Confm'd to exhibition! Lear, I ii 25. 
Expect. Await. Lorenzo: let's in and there expect their 

coming. M. of V., I i 49. 
Expedition. Haste. Macbeth : The expedition of my violent 

love. Mac, II iii 116. 
Extravagant (Latin extra-vagari). Wandering. Horatio: 
The extravagant and erring spirit. Ham., I i 154. 



GLOSSARY 23 

Familiar (from Latin famulus). A supernatural spirit acting 
as servant to anyone; serviceabl. Cade: he has a familiar 
under his tongue. II Hen. VI, IV vii 114. Iago : good 
wine is a good familiar creature. Oth., II iii 313. 

Fantastic, fantastical. Imaginary. Banquo : Are ye fantast- 
ical? Mac, I iii 53. 

Fantasy. Usd as synonymous with fancy (which is etymo- 
logically the same word), or imagination. Marcellus: 
Horatio says 't is but our fantasy. Ham., I i 23. 

Farm. To let out to hire, or to hire. Captain: To pay five 
ducats, rive, I would not farm it. Ham., IV iv 20. 

Favour 1. Face. Desdemona: nor should I know him 
Were he in favour as in humour alter d. Oth.. Ill iv 125. 
2. A scarf, glove, or other small articl of apparel, 
givn to another person as a remembrance or for some 
similar purpose. Prince Henry : But let my favours hide 
thy mangl'd face. I Hen. IV, V iv 96. 

Feat, featly (Middle English fetis). Clever, cleverly, dainty, 
daintily. Polixenes : She dances featly. W. T., IV iv 176. 

Fee-simple. Absolute possession. 

Fie! Much stronger than at present. For shame! ! 

Find. Find out; especially in the past participl found. Po- 
lonius : If she rind him not. To England send him. Ham . 
Ill i 193. 

Fine. End. Hamlet: Is this the line of his fines? Ham.. 
V i 114. 

Flesh. To make a beginning in fighting, or to be satiated or 
brutalizd with fighting. King: The kindred of .him hath 
been rlesh'd upon us. Hen. V, II iv 50. 

Fond. Foolishly devoted to, foolish. Friar Laurence : Thou 
fond mad man. R. and J.. Ill iii 52. 

Forfeit. Penalty, loss, destruction. Romeo : some vile for- 
feit of untimely death. R. and J., I iv 111. 



24 SHAKSPERE 

Formal. According to prescribe! or proper form. Laertes : 
Xo noble rite nor formal ostentation. Ham., IV v 215. 

Free. 1. Usd elliptically — some complementary words un- 
derstood. Free from guilt: Hamlet: We that have free 
souls, it touches us not. Ham., Ill ii 252. Free from 
constraint : King : and thy free awe Pavs homage to us. 
Ham., IV iii 63. 

2. Liberal, generous. Ajax: Thou art too gentle and 
too free a man. T. and C, IV v 139. 

Frenzy. Great excitement, ecstasy. Theseus : The poet's eye, 

in a fine frenzy rolling. M. N. D., V 12. 
Fret. 1. (Anglo-Saxon freten, German fressen). Eat, 

wear away. Lear : With cadent tears fret channels in her 

cheeks. Lear, I iv 307. 

2. (Anglo-Saxon fratwian). Adorn. Hamlet: this 

majestical roof fretted with golden fire. Ham., II ii 312. 

3. A stop of a musical instrument. Hortensio : I did 
but tell her she mistook her frets. T. of S., Ill 150. 

Gall (verb). Usd with more consciousness than at present 
of the literal meaning, of: wearing away, e. g., wearing 
away the skin. Hamlet: Let the gall'd jade wince; our 
withers are unwrung. Ham., Ill ii 252. 

X3arb. Fashion, manner. Hamlet : Let me comply with you 
in the garb. Ham., II ii 389. 

Generation. Offspring, race. Lear : he that makes his gen- 
eration messes To gorge his appetite. Lear. I i 119. (Cf. 
in the New Testament: generation of vipers.) 

God buy you. An abbreviation and corruption of God be 
with you. Our Good bye is a still further abbreviation. 

God-den. An abbreviation of God give you good evening. 

Haggard. Wild falcon. Hero : her spirits are as coy and 
wild As haggards of the rock. Much Ado, III i 36. 



GLOSSARY 25 

Happily. (Merely an alternate form of haply). Perhaps. 

Herb of grace. The rue, which because of the similarity of 
its name to the verb rue and the noun ruth was usd as a 
symbol of repentance, hence of God's grace or salvation. 
Ophelia : there's rue . . we may call it herb of grace 
o' Sundays. Ham., IV v 181. 

His. Xeuter as well as masculine: i. e.. usd constantly, as in 
older stages of the language, for its. 

Honest. 1. Honorabl. Pompey : the all-honour'd honest 
Roman Brutus. A. and C, II vi 16. 
2. Chaste. 

Honesty. Meanings corresponding to honest, just above. 

Horn. A man whose wife was false to him was said to 
have or wear a horn or horns. The origin of the sym- 
bol, which originated in the Greek, is not known. 

Hose. (Same spelling for both singular and plural). The 
chief garment for the lower half of a man's body. It 
originally extended from the waist to the toes, but in 
Shakspere's time it had been divided and the name was 
applied to what later was calld the breeches. For the 
other portion the name stockings or nether-stocks was 
usd. The hose was attacht to the doublet by strings or 
laces, calld points. 

Humour. 1. Sometimes keeps the literal Latin meaning of: 
liquid or moisture. Portia : To walk unbraced and suck 
up the humours Of the dank morning. J. C, II i 262. 

2. Especially, any one of the liquids of the body. 
According to the ideas of ancient physiology, four of 
these were chief. A person's temperament was deter- 
mind by their relativ proportions, and a temporary ex- 
cess of any one or of the fumes arising from it into the 
brain, producd corresponding emotional results, as well 
as general derangement. The four were: a blood (san- 



26 SHAKSPERE 

guis), producing the sanguin or activ temperament; b 
yellow bile (choler), producing the bilious (choleric) 
temperament; c black bile (melancholy); d the vaguely- 
defind phlegm, producing the sluggish temperament. Pau- 
lina : purge him of that humour That presses him from 
sleep. \Y. T., II iii 38. Beatrice: I thank God and my 
cold blood, I am of your humour. Much Ado, I i 130. 
(This quotation illustrates the transition into the next 
meaning). 

3. Temperament ; more often, mood, caprice. 
Prince Henry : I am now of all humours that have showd 
themselves humours since the old days of goodman 
Adam. I Hen. IV, II iv 104. The present most common 
meaning of the word, namely : sense for what is amus- 
ing, has arisn by specialization from this Elizabethan 
Xo. 3. 

Idle. Empty, foolish. Iago: Reputation is an idle and most 
false imposition [ascription]. Oth., II iii 268. 

Imp. Scion, offspring, child. Pistol : an imp of fame. 
Hen. V, IV i 45. 

Importance. 1. Significance (great or small), meaning. 
Gentleman: if the importance were joy or sorrow. W. 
T., V ii 19. 

2. Insistence. Fabian: Maria writ The letter 
at Sir Toby's great importance. T. X., V 371. 

Important. Insistent. Beatrice: If the Prince be too im- 
portant, tell him there is measure in evervthing. Much 
Ado, II i 73. 

Imposition. The literal Latin meaning is : something placed 
on one. In Shakspere the word has a wider range of 
(metaforical) applications than the one to which it has 
now been narrowd ; means, e. g. : stipulation, prescription, 



GLOSSARY 27 

ascription. Xerissa : your father's imposition depending 
on the caskets. M. of V., I ii 114. 

Indifferent, indifferently. 1. Impartial, inclining in neither 
direction. Bolingbroke : Look on my wrongs with an 
indifferent eye. Richard* II. II iii 116. 

' 2. Inclining toward the thing in- 
dicated in the following noun or otherwise; rather, toler- 
abl, tolerablv. Hamlet: I am myself indifferent honest. 
Ham., Ill i 123. 

3. The modern meaning; not in- 
terested in, haying rather less than the ayerage of the 
quality indicated. The following quotation at least sug- 
gests the development of this meaning out of 1. Canter- 
bury: He seems indifferent. Or rather swaying more up- 
on our part Than cherishing the exhibiters against us. 
Hen. V., I i 72. 

Influence. (Latin infiuere). Generally usd in the literal 
sense of : the power flowing toward a person or thing from 
a planet. Horatio : the moist star Upon whose influence 
Xeptune's empire stands. Ham., I i 119. 

Inform. Fill, fill a vacancy. Macbeth : It is the bloody busi- 
ness which informs Thus to mine eyes. Mac, II i 48. 

Ingenious. Intellectual, sensitiv. Gloucester : ingenious feel- 
ing Of my huge sorrows. Lear, IV vi 287. 

Inherit, inheritance, inheritor. Possess, possession, possessor. 
Prospero : the great globe itself, Yea all which it inherit. 
Tp., IV i 154. 

Instance. I. Motiv. King : Gave thee no instance why 
thou shouldst do treason. Hen. V, II ii 119. 

2. Argument, proof, sign. Aegeon: Before the 
always wind-obeying deep Gave any tragic instance of 
our harm. C. of E., I i 65. 



28 SHAKSPERE 

3. Exampl. Sebastian : this accident and flood 
of fortune So far exceed all instance. T. N., IV iii 12. 

4. Particular. Northumberland : Why should that 
gentleman . . Give them such instances of loss? II 
Hen. IV, I i 56. 

Insult. Exult. Prince Henry : I might have let alone The 
insulting hand of Douglas over you. I Hen. IV, V iv 54. 

Intelligent. Conveying information. Kent : are to France 
the spies and speculations Intelligent of our state. Lear, 
III i 25. 

Jealous, jealousy. Suspicious, doutful; suspicion, dout. 
Brutus: That you do love me, I am nothing jealous. 
J. C, I ii 162. 

Jump. 1 (verb). Agree with. Senator: though they jump 
not on a just account. Oth., I iii 5. 

2 (adverb). Precisely. Marcellus : Thus twice be- 
fore, and jump at this dead hour. Ham., I i 65. 

Just. Precise, exact. See the exampl under jump, 1. 

Kibe. Chilblain. 

Kind. 1. Nature. Clown: the worm will do his kind. A 
and €., V ii 264. 

2. Race. Launce : all the kind of the Launces. Two 
Gent., II iii 2. 

3. Sort, fashion (often usd absolutely, without a de- 
pendant phrase with of). King: you shall hear in such a 
kind from me. I Hen. IV, I iii 121. 

Knave. (German knabe). Boy, servant. Parolles : A good 
knave, V faith. All's Well. II iv 39. 

Let. Hinder, hindrance. Hamlet : I'll make a ghost of him 
that lets me. Ham., I iv 85. 



GLOSSARY 29 

Level. 1 (verb and noun). Aim. Hermione : My life 
stands in the level of your dreams. W. T., Ill ii 82. 

2 (adjectiv and adverb). King: As level as the can- 
non to his blank. Ham., IV i 42. 

Liberal. Free-spokn. Emilia : I will speak as liberal as the 
north. Oth., V ii 220. 

List. 1. Boundary, limit. Messenger: The ocean, overpeer- 
ing of his list. Ham., IV v 99. 

2. The border of a web of cloth, a strip of cloth. 
Gentleman : I had as lief be a list of an English Kersey. 
M. for M.. I ii 34. 

Loss. Destruction. Antigonus : Poor thing, condemn'd to 
loss! W. T.. II iii 192. 

Luxury. Lust. 

Main. The main thing, the whole. Hamlet: Goes it against 
the main of Poland? Ham., IV iv 14. 

Mandragora, mandrake. The mandrake is a species of man- 
dragora. Its forkt root gives it something the appear- 
ance of the human body, which fact, added to the f orm 
of its first syllabi, gave rise to the superstition that it had 
partly human qualities; e. g., while being pulld up it was 
supposd to utter shrieks which made a hearer insane. 

Mark. A unit of value (not a coin), equivalent by weight 
to thirteen shillings and four pence, i. e., about $3.25. 

Marry. A disguisd form of the name Mary (the Virgin), 
usd as a mild oath or exclamation. 

Masque. An entertainment popular in the Sixteenth and 
Seventeenth Centuries, in which, at least originally, some 
of the guests wore masks. In an early form, represented 
in R. and J., Act I, and in L. L. L., Act V, the masker? 
were persons who went uninvited to a private social 
gathering and might be preceded by a boy who spoke a 



30 SHAKSPERE 

prolog. In later forms, the masque was an elaborate 
affair, a spectacular dramatic tableau or a spectacular 
littl play. Sometimes the actors (masquers) were guests; 
sometimes they were hired entertainers. There was some- 
times an anti-masque of grotesk characters, such as the 
reapers in The Tempest, IV ; and always a dance or danc- 
ing. Milton's Comus approaches more nearly to a regular 
drama than does any other masque. 

Mechanic, mechanical. Manual laborer, of the "laboring*' 
class. Flavius : Being mechanical you ought not walk 
. . without the sign Of your profession. J. C. I i 3. 

Mere. Unqualified, absolute, sheer. Bassanio : Engag'd un- 
friend to his mere enemy. M. of V., Ill ii 265. 

Metal and mettle (the latter originally a misspelling oi 
metal) are not, as now, always distinguisht in meaning in 
Shakspere. 

Minion. 1. Young favorit. favorit. Duke: But this your 
minion, whom I know you love. T. X.. V i 128. 

2. Usd as a term of contempt ; servant, base crea- 
ture. Othello: Minion, your dear lies dead. Oth., V i 33. 

Model. 1. Plan, pattern. Richmond: I'll draw the form 
and model of our battle. Rich. III. V iii 24. 

2. Copy, counterpart. Hamlet : I had my father's 
signet . . Which was the model of that Danish seal. 
Ham.. Y ii 150. 

3. Small portion. King Richard: And that small 
model of the barren earth Which serves as paste and 
cover to our bones. Rich. Ill, III ii 153. 

Modern. 1. Moderate. Ross: where violent sorrow seems 
Y modern ecstasy. Mac, IV iii 170. 

2. Commonplace, ordinary. Jaques : Full of wise 
saws and modern instances. Y. Y. L.., II vii 156. 



GLOSSARY 31 

Modest, modesty. Moderate, moderation. Antony : Then 

in a friend it is cold modesty. J. C. Ill i 213. 
Moiety (literally). Half. Caesar: in the name lay A 

moiety of the world A. and C, V i 19. 
Monument. Tomb; so repeatedly in R. and J. and A. and C. 
Motion. Emotion, impulse. Caesar : unassailable holds on his 

rank. Unshak'd of motion. J. C, III i 70. 
Motive. Impelling force, cause. Desdemona : Am I the 

motive of these tears? Oth., IV ii 43. 
Mutiny (verb and noun). Contest, struggle, rise in fight. 

From ancient grudge break to new mutiny. R. and J., 

Prolog to I, 3. 
Mystery (Latin ministerium) . Occupation, trade. Abhor- 

son : he will discredit our mystery. M. for M., IV ii 30. 

Napkin. Cloth, handkerchief. Oliver : He sends this bloody 

napkin. A. Y. L., IV iii 94. 
Natural. Idiot. Trinculo : That a monster should be such 

a natural! Tp., Ill ii 37. 
Naught, naughty. Much stronger than at present : wicked- 
ness, wicked, bad. Fool : 't is a naughtv night to swim 

in: Lear, III iv 116. 
Nay. Usd affirmativly in the sense : Not only so but also ; 

moreover. Gonzalo : Manv, nay, almost anv. Tp., Ill iii 

34. 
Near. In the (original) comparativ sense: nearer. King 

Richard: How far off lies your power? Salisbury: Nor 

near nor farther off . . Than this weak arm. Rich. 

II, III ii 64. 
Neat. Cows, oxen and bulls, as in the noun neat-herd. 
Nephew. Sometimes applied to a cousin or grandchild. 
Next. Xearest (the original meaning). Hotspur: 'T is the 

next way to turn tailor. I Hen. IV, III i 264. 



32 SHAKSPERE 

Nice. 1. Ignorant (the literal meaning from Latin nes- 

cius), foolish, unimportant. Cassius : it is not meet That 

every nice offence should bear his comment. J. C, IV 
iii 8. 

2. Foolishly particular, particular. Macduff : O re- 
lation Too nice, and yet too true! Mac, IV iii 174. 

3, Skilful. Leonato : Despite his nice fence and his 
active practice. Much Ado, V i 72. 

Nothing. Usd adverbially, meaning: not at all. Brutus: I 
am nothing jealous. J. C, I ii 162. 

Object. Sight, view. Edgar: And with this horrible ob- 
ject . . Enforce their charity. Lear, II iii 17. 

'Ods. An abbreviation of God's, usd in oaths. 

Offices. Any rooms usd for the regular transaction of busi- 
ness or work, e. g., the kitchens. Steward : When all 
our offices have been oppress'd With riotous feeders. 
Timon, II ii 167. 

Old. Reiterated, plentiful. Portia : We shall have old 
swearing. M. of V., IV ii 15. 

Opinion. 1. Reputation. King: Thou hast redeem'd thy 
ltfst opinion. I Hen. IV, V iv 48. 

2. Self-conceit. Nathaniel : learned without opin- 
ion. L. L. L., V i 6. 

Or. 1. Generally usd where we use either as conjunction. 
Orlando : Or Charles or something weaker masters thee. 
A. V: L., I ii 272. 

2. Etymologically another form of ere, generally usd 
with ere, for emfasis. Hamlet : A little month, or ere 
those shoes were old. Ham., I ii 147. 

Ort (an Anglo-Saxon word). End, fragment. Antony: 
one that feeds On abjects, orts. and imitations. J. C. 
IV i 37. 



GLOSSARY 33 

Out of. Without. Starveling: Out of doubt he is trans- 
ported. M. N. D., IV ii 3. 
Outrage. 1. Outcry, confusion. Prince: Seal up the mouth 
* of outrage for a while. R. and J., V ii i 216. 

2. Outbreak, injury. Romeo : Gentlemen, for- 
bear this outrage ! R. and J.. Ill i 90. 
Owe. Possess, own. Ferdinand: the noblest grace she ow'd. 
Tp., Ill i 45. 

Particular. Private concern, special way or case. Regan : 
For his particular, I'll receive him gladly. Lear, II iv 
295. 

Passion. Emotion. Brutus : Vex'd I am Of late with pas- 
sions of some difference. J. C. I ii 40. 

Pattern. Exampl., masterpiece. Lear : I will be the pat- 
tern of all patience. Lear, III ii 37. 

Peculiar. Specially belonging to oneself, personal. Iago : 
seeming so for my peculiar end. Oth.. I i 60. 

Peevish. Fretful, silly, childish. Iago : I cannot speak Any 
beginning to this peevish odds. Oth.. II iii 185. 

Penthouse. (By popular etymology from French apentis — 
Latin appendix — a shed). Lean-to. Witch: Sleep shall 
neither night nor day Hang upon his penthouse lid. Mac, 
I iii 20. 

Perspective. A glass which gave a distorted image except 
when viewd in a particular way. Bertram : Contempt 
his scornful perspective did lend me. All's Well, V iii 48. 

Platform. Terrace. Marcellus : upon the platform where 
we watclVd. Ham.. I ii 213. 

Point. A lace usd to tie the parts of the dress together. 
Antony : would you mingle eyes With one that ties his 
points? A. and C, III xiii 157. 



34 SHAKSPERE 

Posy. A motto engravd inside a ring. Hamlet: Is this a 
prologue, or the posy of a ring? Ham., Ill ii 162. 

Practice, practise (verb and noun). Stratagem, plot, to plot. 
Oliver : he will practise against thee by poison. A. Y. L., 
I i 156. 

Pregnant. Full of anything; hence: clear, ready, expert, 
powerful. Edmund : the profits of my death Were very 
pregnant and potential spurs. Lear, II i 78. 

Present, presently. Immediate, immediately, without any 
delay whatever. (The modern meaning, which also oc- 
curs in Shakspere, is weakend from this). Lear: Go tell 
the Duke and's wife I'd speak with them, Xow, presently. 
Lear, II iv 118. 

Pretence. Purpose. Lear:a very pretence and purpose of 
unkindness. Lear, I iv 75. 

Pretend. Intend, mean. Ross : What good could they pre- 
tend? Mac, II iv 24. 

Prevent. Anticipate, get ahead of, hinder. Hamlet : so shall 
my anticipation prevent your discovery. Ham., II ii 305. 
Carlisle : wise men ne'er sit and wail their woes, But 
presently prevent the ways to wail. Rich. II. Ill ii 179. 

Process. 1. Course, due course. Menenius : Proceed by 
process. Lest parties . . break out. Cor.. Ill i 314. 

2. Manner. Antonio: Tell her the process of An- 
tonio's end. M. of V., IV i 274. 

3. Story. Ghost: so the whole ear of Denmark Is 
by a forged process of my death Rankly abus'd. Ham., 
I v 37. 

4*. Summons, command. King : thou mayst not 
coldly set Our sovereign process. Ham., IV iii 65. 
Proper. 1. One's own, peculiar to. Hamlet: Thrown out 
his angle for my proper life. Ham., V ii 66. Polonius : 



GLOSSARY 35 

it is as proper to our age To cast beyond ourselves. 
Ham., II i 114. 

2. Well f ormd, fine, strong, handsome. Claudio : 
He is a very proper man. Much Ado, II iii 189. 

Property. Xature, life. Polonius : love. Whose violent 
property fordoes itself. Ham., II, i, 103. Hamlet : Upon 
whose property and most dear life A damn'd defeat was 
made. Ham., II, ii, 597. 

Propose. State, set forth, talk, undertake. Hero : Propos- 
ing with the Prince and Claudio. Much Ado, III i 3. 

Purchase (verb and noun). To get in any way, what is got. 
Camillo : Purchase the sight again of dear Sicilla. W. 
T., IV iv 521. 

Quaint. Skilful, pleasing, odd. Salanio : 'T is vile unless 
it may be quaintly order'd. M. of V., II iv 6. 

Quality. 1. Xature. Portia: The quality of mercv is not 
strain'd. M. of V., IV i 184. 

2. Accomplishment. Troilus : The Grecian youths 
are full of quality. T. and C, IV iv 78. 

3. Profession. King Henry: What is thy name? 
I know thy quality. Hen. V, III vi 146. 

4. Rank, high rank. King Henry: gentlemen of 
blood and quality. Hen. V, IV viii 95. 

Quantity. Amount. Sometimes usd in the sense of small 
amount or thing, as well as great amount. Petruchio : 
Away, thou rag, thou quantity, thou remnant. T. of S., 
IV iii 112. 

Question. 1. Discussion, consideration. Edmund: one 
thing, of a queasy question. Lear, II i 19. 

2. Conversation- talk. Rosalind : I met the Duke 
vesterdav and had much question with him. A. Y. L., 
Ill iv 39. 



36 SHAKSPERE 

Quick. Alive. Perdita : not to be buried, But quick and in 

mine arms. W. T., IV iv 132. 
Quicken. Give life to, come to life. Lafeu : That's able to 

. . . Quicken a rock. All's Well, II i 11. 
Quite (adverb) always means: entirely, absolutely; never, as 

now colloquially : somewhat. 
Quote. Scrutinize, perceiv, interpret, set down. Polonius : 

I am sorry that with better heed and judgment I had not 
quoted him. Ham., II i 112. 

Rack. Cloud, clouds. Player : we often see . . A silence 
in the heavens, the rack stand still, flam., II ii 506. 

Rash. Hasty, requiring haste. Aeneas : I scarce have leisure 
to salute you, My matter is so rash. T. and C, IV ii 62. 

Reason (verb). Talk. Salarino : I reason'd with a French- 
man yesterday. M. of V., II viii 27. 

Recover. Get, gain. Hamlet : why do you go about to re- 
cover the wind of me? Ham., Ill ii 361. 

Remorse. Pity, kindliness. Brutus : The abuse of greatness 
is when it disjoins Remorse from power. J. C, II i 19. 

Require. Demand, ask. Albany: I do require them of you. 
Lear, V iii 43. 

Resolve. Determine, settl one's douts (usd transitivly as 
well as intransitivly), inform. Lear: Resolve me . . 
which way Thou mightst* deserve . . this usage. Lear. 

II iv 25. 

Respect. 1. Thot, consideration. Gratiano : You have too 
much respect upon the world. M. of V., I i 74. 

2. Reason, motiv. Buckingham : this argues con- 
science in your Grace, but the respects thereof are nice 
and trivial. Rich. Ill, III vii 175. 



GLOSSARY 37 

3. Deliberate plan. Lear : To do upon respect 
such violent outrage. Lear, II iv 24. 

4. Reputation, honor. Cassius : many of the best 
respect in Rome., J. C, I ii 59. 

5. Proper conduct. Gratiano : Talk with respect 
and swear but now and then. M. of V., II ii 200. 

Revolt. Changing, breaking away from any proper or es- 
tablisht conduct. Juliet : ere . . my true heart with 
treacherous revolt Turn to another. R. and J., IV i 58. 

Rub. Impediment, an inequality of the ground in a bowling 
green. Lady : Madam, we'll play at bowls. Queen : 'T 
will make me think the world is full of rubs. Rich. II. 
Ill iv 4. 

Rue. See above, Herb of grace. 

Sad. Serious. Brutus : tell us what hath chanc'd today That 
Caesar looks so sad. J. C, II ii 217. 

Sadness. Seriousness. Benvolio : Tell me in sadness, who 
is that you love? R. and J., I i 205. 

Sallet. Salad ; spicy saying. 

Salt. Licentious. 

Satisfy. Inform, make sure. Antony: of this my letters 
Before did satisfy you. A. and C, II ii 52. - 

Saving your reverence (Latin, salva reventia). Xo disre- 
spect to your honor. Usd when the speaker mentions 
something undignified or vulgar, or otherwise seems to 
take a liberty, originally in the presence of a person of 
high rank. Launcelot : the fiend, who, saving your rev- 
erence, is the devil himself. M. of V., II ii 26. 

'Sblood. An abreviation of God's blood, one of the num- 
erous oaths by separate parts of Christ's body (this one 
with reference to the shedding of his redeeming blood on 
the Cross). 



38 SHAKSPERE 

'Sdeath. God's death. See under 'Sblood. 

Seel. To blind; literally to fasten together the eyelids of 

a newly caught falcon with thread, in order to aid in 

taming it. Iago : To seel her father's eves up close as 

oak. Oth., Ill iii 210. 
Self. 1. One's own. Malcolm: by self and violent hands 

Took off her life. Mae., V viii 70. 

2. Same. Kent : Else one self mate and mate could 

not beget Such different issues. Lear. IV iii 36. 
Sense. Usd more often than now to signify general physical 

sensation or perception. Enobarbus : A strange invisible 

perfume hits the sense. A. and C, II ii 217. 
Sensible. Possessing or capabl of physical sensation, or of 

being perceivd by the physical senses. Macbeth : Art 

thou not. fatal vision, sensible To feeling as to sight? 

Mac, II i 36. 
Sentence. Maxim, sententious observation. Benedick : Shall 

quips and sentences . . awe a man? Much Ado, II 

iii 248. 
Several. Separate, different, various. Prospero : my meaner 

ministers Their several kinds have done. Tp., Ill iii 88. 
Shield. Protect, forbid, forbid but, grant. Paris: God 

shield I should disturb devotional! R. and J., IV i 41. 
Shot. Reckoning, charge. Falstaff : Though I could scape 

shot-free at London. I Hen. IV, V iii 30. 
Show. Appear, appearance. Juliet : Despised substance of 

divinest show ! R. and J., Ill ii 77. 
Shrewd. Accursed, evil, scolding, sharp-tongued. Portia : 

There are some shrewd contents in yon same paper. M. 

of V., Ill ii 246. 
Shrewdly. (Like a witch). Very badly, cleverly. Hamlet: 

The air bites shrewdly; it is very cold. Ham., I iv 1. 



GLOSSARY 39 

Silly. Simpl, innocent. Duke: It is silly sooth, And dallies 

with the innocence of love. T. N., II iv 47. 
Sir-reverence. A contraction of Saving your reverence, 

which see. 
Size. Allowance, of food, money, etc. Lear : to scant my 

sizes. Lear, II iv 178. 
Skill (noun). Intelligence, knowledge, cunning, reason, 

cause. Clown : I am no great Nebuchadnezzar, sir ; I 

have not much skill in grass. All's Well, IV v 22. 
Skill (verb). Make a difference. Clown: it skills not much 

when they are deliver'd. T. N., V i 295. . 
Slop. Trousers. 
Snort. Snore. Iago : Awake the snorting citizens with the 

bell. Oth., I i 90. 
Soft. Slow, slowly, with moderation, wait a minute ! 
Solemn. Serious, dignified, belonging to a prearranged fes- 

tivitv. Macbeth : Tonight we hold a solemn supper, sir. 

•Mac, III i 14. 
Solemnity. Festivity, celebration. Theseus : A fortnight 

hold we this solemnity, M. N. D., V i 376. 
Sort (noun). \. Class of peopl, rank. Flavius : Assemble 

all the poor men of your sort. J. C, I i 62. 

2. Company. King Richard : they can see a 
sort of traitors here. Rich. II, IV i 246. 

3. Manner. Caesar : smiles in such a sort. 
J. C, I ii 205. 

Sort (verb). 1. Contrive, dispose. Buckingham: I'll sort 
occasion . . To part the Queen's proud kindred from 
the king. Rich. Ill, II ii 148. 

2. Fit, fall out, agree. Antonio : I am glad 
that all things sort so well. Much Ado, V iv 7. 

Speculation. Sight, gazing. Macbeth : Thou hast no specu- 
lation in those eyes. Mac, III iv 95. 



40 SHAKSPERE 

Spill. Destroy. Queen: So full of artless jealousy is guilt. 
It spills itself in fearing to be spilt. Ham.. IV v 20. 

Spite. Malice, injury, misfortune. Hamlet: O cursed spite 
That ever I was born to set it right ! Ham., I v 189. 

Squash. An unripe peapod. Malvolio : as a squash is be- 
fore 't is a peascod. T. X., I v 166. 

Stand upon. 1. Concern. Angelo : Consider how it stands 
upon my credit. C. of E., IV i 68. 

2. Be punctilious about. Lady Macbeth : 
Stand not upon the order of vour going. Mac, III iv 
119. 

Start (verb and noun). Break away, outbreak. Regan: 
Such unconstant starts . . as this of Kent's banish- 
ment.. Lear, I i 304. 

Starve. (German sterben). Die, kill. Romeo : beauty, starv'd 
with her severity. R. and J., I i 225. 

State. Chair of state. Macbeth : Our hostess keeps her 
state. Mac, III iv 5. 

Station. Standing, attitude. Hamlet : A station like the 
herald Mercury. Ham., Ill iv 58. 

Still. Ever, constantly. King: Thou stifl hast been the 
father of good news. Ham., II ii 42. 

Stock-fish. A cod or one of the other kinds of fish which 
were curd dry and whole, were hung up in shops, and 
were beaten to soften them before cooking. Stephano : 
I'll turn my mercy out o' doors and make a- stock-fish 
of thee. Tp, III ii 79. 

Straight, Straightway, at once. Lear: I will arraign them 
straight. Lear, III vi 22. 

Stuffed. Full of. Capulet: Stuff'd, as they say, with hon- 
ourable parts. R. and J., Ill v 183. 

Subscribe. Write down, give away. Gloucester: And the 
King gone tonight ! subscribed his power ! Lear, I ii 24. 



GLOSSARY 41 

Success. Outcome, achievment (either good or bad). 

Titinius : Mistrust of my success hath done this deed. 

J. C, V iii 65. 
Sudden. Quick, hasty. Cassius : Casca, be sudden; for we 

fear prevention. J. C, III i 19. 

Take. Exert influence on; usd (literally of supernatural be- 
ings) either transitivly or intransitivly. Marcellus : then 
no planets strike, Xo fairy takes. Ham.. I i 163. 

Thrift. 1. Success. Bassanio : I have a mind presages me 
such thrift. M. of V., I i 175. 

2. Profit, advantage. Hamlet : Crook the pregnant 
hinges of the knee Where thrift mav follow fawning. 
Ham., Ill ii 67. 

Through, throughly. Thoro. thoroly. 

Timeless. Untimely. Juliet: Poison, I see, hath been his 
timeless end. R. and J., V iii 162. 

Trash. Hold back (with a leash), lop off. Iago: whom I 
trash For his quick hunting. Oth.. II i 312. 

Travail and travel (not distinguisht). Labor. York: Is 
all our travail turn'd to this effect? I Hen. VI, V iv 102. 

Treaty. Proposal. Antony : Xow I must To the young man 
send humble treaties. A. and C, III xi 62. 

Truimph. Celebration, public spectacl. Theseus : With 
pomp, with triumph, and with revelling. M. X. D., I 
i 19. 

Troth. (A variant form of truth). Truth, faith, usd es- 
pecially as a mild oath (meaning By my faith). 

Turtle. Turtle-dove. Paulina : I, an old turtle. Will wing 
me to some wither d bough. W. T., V iii 132, 

Unhappy. Unfortunate, wicked. Cordelia : Unhappy that I 
am, I cannot heave My heart into my mouth. Lear, I 
i 93. 



42 SHAKSPERE 

Unjust. False, dishonest, worthless, wrong. Falstaff : dis- 
carded unjust serving men. I Hen. IV, IV ii 30. 
Unkind. Unnatural. Lear : nothing could have subdu'd 

nature To such a lowness but his unkind daughters. 

Lear, III iv 73. 
Unskilful. Ignorant, foolish. Hamlet: though it make the 

unskilful laugh. Ham., Ill ii 29. 
Urge. 1. Suggest, present. Vernon : I never in my life 

Did hear a challenge urg'd more modestlv. I Hen. IV, 

V ii 53. 

2. Lay stress on. Hermia: she hath urg'd her 

height. M. N. D, III ii 291. 
Use (noun). 1. Interest. Beatrice: he lent it me awhile 

and I gave him use for it. Much Ado. II i 288. 

2. Usage, custom. Hamlet : How weary, stale, 

flat, and unprofitable Seems to me all the uses of this 

world. Ham., I ii 134. 
Use (verb). Make a practis of. Cobbler: A trade, sir, that 

I hope I may use with a safe conscience. J. C, I i 14. 
Utter (from out). Put forth in any way, sell. Apothecary: 

Mantua's law Is death to any he that utters them [such 

drugs]. R. and J., V i 67. 

Vain. Foolish, silly. King : everv beardless vain compara- 
tive. I Hen. IV, III ii 67. 

Vast. Empty, desert. Romeo : that vast shore wash'd with 
the farthest sea. R. and J., II ii 83. 

Vice. The most conspicuous bad (abstract) character in any 
of the Morality plays. Clown : Like to the old Vice . 
Who, with dagger of lath. In his rage and his wrath. 
Cries, ah ha! to the devil. T. N, IV ii 134. 

Villain. Peasant, servant. Orlando : I am no villain. I am 
the youngest son of Sir Roland. A. Y. L-, I i 58. 



GLOSSARY 43 

Vulgar. The common peopl, belonging to the common peopl, 
• low, commonplace. King : as common As any the most 
vulgar thing to sense. Ham., I ii 99. 

Waggon. Chariot. Perdita : Dis's waggon. W. T., IV iv 

118, 
Waste (verb and noun). To spend, consume, consumption 

of. Robin : A merrier hour was never wasted there. 

M. N. D, II i 57. 
Weed. Garment. Robin : Weeds of Athens he doth wear. 

M. N. D., II ii 71." 
Well said. Well done. 
Whoreson. Bastard, worthless ; but often usd as a term of 

affection in loose talk. 
Wife. Woman ; as in The Merry Wives of Windsor. 
Will. Pleasure, desire. 
Wink. 1 (verb). Shut the eyes. Nym : I dare not fight, 

but I will wink and hold out mine iron. Hen. V, II i 8. 

(Cf. Acts 17:30: The times of this ignorance God winked 

at — King James Version). 

2 (noun). Closing of the eyes. Leontes : mightst 

bespice a cup To give mine enemy a lasting wink. W. 

T., I ii 317. 
Wit. 1. Mind. Valentine : by love the young and tender 

wit Is turn'd to folly. Two Gent., I i 47. 

2. Intellectual powers. Ghost : With witchcraft of 
his wit . . won . . my . . queen. Ham., I v 43. 

3. Wisdom. Falstaff: one that hath taught me more 
wit than ever I learn'd before. Merry Wives, IV v 61. 

4. Sense, discretion, judgment. Kent: Having more 
man than wit about me. Lear, II iv 42. 

Withal. 1. With it, therewith. Lady Macbeth: If he do 



44 SHAKSPERE 

bleed I'll gild the faces of the grooms withal. Mac., II 
ii 56. 

2. With (at the end of a clause or sentence). 
Rosalind : I'll tell vou who Times ambles withal. A. Y. 
L., HI ii 328. 

Yare. Activ, redy. 

Yearn. Griev, be grievd. Pistol : Falstaff is dead. And we 
must yearn therefore. Hen. V, II ii 3. 

Yeoman. Strictly, the holder of a small amount of land, 
inferior in rank to the non-laboring gentry, superior to 
serfs and landless peasants. But the word is sometimes 
usd loosely, of common men as opposd to the gentry. 

Yield. 1. Give, grant, afford. Viola: Thy reason, man? 
Clown : Troth, sir, I can yield you none. T. X., Ill i 27. 
2. Reward; in the phrase: God (or the gods) yield 
(or 'ild). 



IV. A BRIEF GRAMMATICAL ABSTRACT 

The points in which Shakspere's usage is most likely 
to seem strange to present-day students. 

I. IN GENERAL 

1. Every living language is always in a state of 
change and growth, but this was more conspicuously 
true of English in the Elizabethan period than in most 
of those that have followd. The expansiv influence 
of the Renaissance had not yet spent itself in Shaks- 
pere's time, and the diffusion of printed books had not 
yet become so great as to establish a rigid conventional 
system of speech and writing. In particular, the pro- 
cess of discarding inflectional forms was not altogether 
completed, and there was still considerabl experiment- 
ation in word formation. 

2. The vigor and boldness of the Elizabethan spirit 
showd themselves forcibly in the Elizabethan language. 
In spite of a general tendency (a Renaissance affecta- 
tion) to imitate Latin sentence-structure and style, the 
Elizabethans usually aimd in expression at force, brev- 
ity, and pictureskness, and in attaining these ends they 
were not afraid of being original. 



46 SHAKSPERE 

3. Hence they, and apparently Shakspere more than 
anv other writer, often violated logical rules of 
grammar for the sake of eff ectivness ; using, for in- 
stance, a nominativ pronoun form for the object; or 
changing the structure of a long sentence in the middl 
of it. 

4. Again, Shakspere often uses almost any part of 
speech for another; putting a pronoun for a noun, 
coining verbs from other parts of speech, ajid so on. 
For exampl : 

Apothecary: Mantua's law Is death to any he that 

utters them. R. and J., V i 67. 
King Henry: This, day shall gentle his condition. 

Hen. V., IV iii 63. 
King: I do doubt the hatch and the disclose Will be 

some danger. Ham., Ill i 174. 
Prospero: the dark backward and abysm of time. Tp., 

I ii 50. 

5. Shakspere, especially in his later plays, con- 
stantly uses bold ellipses (omitting words which can 
be supplied by the reader). Thus: 

Juliet: Saints do not move, though [they] grant for 

prayers' sake. R. and J., I v 107. 
Iago: I bleed, sir; but not kill'd. Oth., V ii 288. 
Perdita: Not like a corse; or if [he were] not to be 
buried. W. T., IV iv 131. 



GRAMMAR 47 

6. The better knowledge of Latin and Greek among 
p.eopl in Shakspere's time as compard with the pres- 
ent, and the comparativ youthfulness in English of 
many words which had been brot in from Latin and 
Greek, directly or thro French, causd the Elizabethans 
to use many Latin and Greek words in senses nearer 
the original meaning*, or without the limitations to 
special senses which they have since undergone. 
Some such words, then usd literally, have since 
been restricted to metaforical or abstract meanings, 
and vice versa. E. g., when Banquo (Macbeth I iii 
53) asks the witches if they are fantastical he 
means creatures of the fancy, imaginary; and when 
Lady Macbeth (I v 30) speaks of metaphysical aid 
she means supernatural. The changes are not limited, 
either, to words of foreign origin. Many words in 
the glossary illustrate these facts. Thus : 

Specialization of meaning since Shakspere's time 
appears, among others, in: conversation, cousin, de- 
feat, election, humour, idle, inform, jealous, question, 
starve, treaty, wink. 

Generalization appears in: influence, proper, quick. 

It will be noted that in some cases a word has im- 
provd in meaning since Shakspere's time; e. g., fond, 
nice, practise. 

In a larger number of cases (suggesting some of 



48 SHAKSPERE 

the unpleasant aspects of human nature) a word ha> 
sufferd either degradation or weakening. E. g., cen- 
sure, charity, compromise, convert ien t, conn terfeit, 
honest, imp, indifferent, knave, presently, pretend, 
vulgar. 

7. Not at all peculiar to Shakspere's time but af- 
fecting the form of some words then as well as in all 
other periods, is the process calld popular etymology, 
or folk-etymology. This is the corruption of the form 
of an unfamiliar word (generally of foreign origin) 
by uneducated peopl into a form seemingly intelligibl 
to them or at least similar to other words which they 
know. At the present day this process often trans- 
forms chauffeur into shover, as if the driver shovd the 
auto. In II Hen. IV it leads the volubl Airs. Quickly 
to characterize Falstaff as a "honeysuckle" insted of a 
"homicidal" villain. 

II. NOUNS AND PRONOUNS 

8. Shakspere often uses abstract nouns for con- 
crete ones, and sometimes collectiv nouns for par- 
ticular ones. 

Polixenes to Perdita: And you, enchantment, 
Worthy enough a herdsman. W. T., IV iv 
444. 

Hamlet: You hear this fellow in the cellarage. 
Ham., I v 150. 



GRAMMAR 49 

9. Thou as distinguisht from you is generally usd 
as follows : 

a. As at present, in prayer and the higher poetic 

style. 

b. In addressing familiar friends. 

c. In addressing servants (implying their in- 

feriority), except when the speaker is angry 
or ironical. 

d. In contempt, to equals or superiors. 

But with sir, you is generally usd in all cases. 
These distinctions are not always strictly observd, 
but most apparent exceptions can be explaind thro 
more or less subtile shades of feeling which would be 
clear enuf to the Elizabethans. 

10. The plural pronouns we and our are usd by royal and 
nobl persons, as sometimes at present, in speaking of them- 
selves in the singular. 

King: Our chief est courtier, cousin, and our son. Ham., 
I ii 117. 

11. The possessiv pronouns when not emfatic are some- 
times put between an adjectiv and a noun (being really trans - 
formd into proclitic prefixes of the nouns). So: Good my 
lord; dear my cousin. The usage is precisely parallel to 
French Monsieur and the Anglicizd Dutch "Mynheer." 

12. Your is sometimes usd, as at present, in the indefinit 
and impersonal sense, for the, generally with some suggestion 
of humor, irony, or contempt. 

Hamlet : There are more things in heaven and earth, 
Horatio, Than are dreamt of in your philosophv. 
(So the Folio). Ham., I v 167. 



50 SHAKSPERE 

13. It as the object of a verb is sometimes usd indefinitly 
to designate a noun-idea implied but not previously stated. 
The verb and pronoun virtually form a compound expression. 

Mercutio : Alia stoccata [Tybalt] carries it away [has 
the victory]. R and J., Ill i 77. 

14. In words ending in -s, -se, -ss, -ce, and -ge, 

the 's and -es of the possessiv and plural endings are 
generally omitted before words beginning with s. E. 
g., for conscience sake. 

15. Thro the mistakn idea that -s of the possessiv case 
is an abbreviation for his, his was occasionally substituted 
for it. 

Antonio : 'gainst the Count his galleys. T. N., Ill iii 26. 

16. His, which in earlier stages of the language 
was neuter as well as masculine, and so was usd for 
our its, was almost always so usd (i e., usd insted of 
its) by Shakspere. Its was just coming into use. 
Shakspere uses it for the possessiv somewhat more 
often than its, chiefly in speaking of children, or in 
contempt. 

Hermione : The innocent milk in it most inno- 
cent mouth. W. T., Ill ii 101. 

17. By a survival of earlier inflectional forms, your, our, 
and their are sometimes usd as the possessiv cases of the 
personal pronouns where at present we should use of us, etc. 
(generally with another word or words) ; e. g. all our grief, 
for the grief of us all. 

18. A personal pronoun is often usd in the con- 
struction called in Latin The Ethical Dativ, denoting 



GRAMMAR 51 

a person more or less interested in the action of the 
subject. 

Mercutio: Claps me his sword upon the table. R. 
and J., Ill i 7. 

19. Occasionally a pronoun is usd as a Dativ of Agent, 
when the preposition by would be more regularly employd. 

•Camillo : I am appointed him to murder you. W. T., 
I ii 412. 

20. Which is very often usd for who and whom 
as a relativ pronoun. 

Bassanio : a civil doctor, which did refuse three 
thousand ducats. M. of V., V 211. 

21. All the relativ pronouns, who, which, and 
that, are often followd by third person singular verbs, 
irrespectiv of the form of the antecedent noun (tho 
present-day editions often modernize). Probably this 
is to be explaind by the fact that the antecedent was 
usually in the third person, so that the relativ seemd 
in itself (as it probably does to most peopl at the 
present time) a third -personal form. But cf. below, 
section 40. 

Portia: There are some shrewd con toils in yon 
same paper, That steals the colour from Bas- 
sanio's cheek. M. of V., Ill ii 247. 

22. What? (like Latin quid) is often usd for 
Why? 

Brutus: What need we any spur: J. C, II i 123. 



52 SHAKSPERE 

III. ADJECTIVS, ADVERBS, AND THE IXDEFIXIT ARTICL 

23. Adjectivs which at present are exclusivly 
either activ or passiv in effect are usd by Shakspere 
in both senses. This is especially true of those with 
the suffixes -able, -fid, -ive, and -less. 

Juliet: O comfortable [comforting] friar. R. and 

J., V iii 148. 
Brutus : the insuppressive [not to be supprest] 

mettle of our spirits. J. C, II i 134. 
Macbeth: the sightless [unseen] couriers of the 

air. Mac, I vii 23. 
Polixenes : imprisoirt not In ignorant [keeping 

ignorant] concealment. W. T., I ii 397. 

24. Similarly, sometimes an adjectiv which in thot 
belongs with one noun or idea is made grammatically 
to qualify another; especially, an adjectiv which be- 
longs with the object is transferrd to the subject. 

King: lost thy princely privilege With vile par- 
ticipation [companionship with vile persons] . 
I Hen. IV, III ii 87. 

Lear: I have perceiv'd a most faint neglect of 
late. [The faintness is in the bearing of the 
attendants, and transforms what should be 
attentivness into neglect]. Lear, I iv 73. 

25. Almost any noun, and some phrases, may be 
transformd into an adjectiv by the addition of -ed. 
where our present usage would sometimes employ of. 



GRAMMAR 53 

Portia : Bring them . . with imagined speed 
[speed of imagination] . M. of V., Ill iv 52. 

Juliet : I . . gave him what becomed love I 
might [love characterizd by becomingness] . 
R. and J., IV iii 26. 

Cassio : To have him see me woman d [accom- 
panied by a woman]. Oth., Ill iv 195. 

Regan : Be simple-answer d [Let your answer be 
characterizd by simplicity] ; for we know 
the truth. Lear, III vii 43. 

Edgar : the death-practisd duke [against whom 
death is plotted] . Lear, IV vi 284. 

26. Of with a noun is usd in place of an adjectiv 
much more often than at present. 

Polixenes : A lip of much contempt. W. T., I 

ii 373. 
Hamlet: They have dealt with me like thieves of 

mercy [merciful thieves]. Ham., IV vi 20. 

27. Adjectivs are freely usd for adverbs. 
Lysander: I will be with fliee straight. M. N. D., 

Ill ii 403. 
Hamlet: grow not instant old. Ham., I v 94. 

28. Adverbs are sometimes usd for adjectivs (in- 
dicating condition). 

Bassanio: In Belmont is a lady richly left [left 
rich]. M. of V., I i 161. 



54 SHAKSPERE 

King Henry: if a son . . do sinfully miscarry 

[miscarry while he is in a state of sin] . Hen. 

V., IV i 155. 
Celia : those that she makes honest she makes very 

ill-favouredly [of ill-favours, i. e., homely]. 

A. Y. L., I ii 42. 

29. The signs of the comparativ and superlativ 
degrees are often doubled (for emfasis). 

Antony: This was the most unkindest cut of all. 
J. C, III ii 187. 
Duke : opinion . . throws a more safer voice on 
you. Oth., I iii 226. 

30. According to the earlier usage of the language 
(before Latin influence came in) the doubling or 
multiplying of negativs does not make an affirmativ 
but emfasizes the negation. 

Clerk : let his lack of years be no impediment to 
let him lack [i. e., have] a reverend estima- 
tion. M. of V., IV i 162. 

Hotspur: Xor never could the noble Mortimer. I 

Hen. IV, I iii 110. 

31. The indefinit articl A is sometimes usd for One. 
(The two forms were originally identical). 

Hamlet: These foils have all a length? Ham., V ii 276. 

IV. PREPOSITIONS AND CONJ UNCTIONS 

32. The meanings of most of the prepositions are 
more varied in Shakspere than at present (partly be- 



GRAMMAR 55 

cause in the subsequent development of the language 
the number of prepositions has increast, so that nar- 
rower distinction of meanings has becom possibl. 
Sometimes, however, a prepositional usage which ap- 
pears strange to us is one w r hich we really still retain 
in a slightly different form or with different w T ords). 
E. g.: ' 

a. For=for lack of. 

Canterbury: cold for action. Hen. V, I ii 114. 

b. From is usd for away from in other cases than 
with verbs of motion. 

Hamlet : anything so overdone is from the pur- 
pose of playing. Ham., Ill ii 23. 

Macbeth: ? t must be done tonight, And something 
from the palace. Mac, III i 132. 

c. Of =on. 

Falstaff: A plague of all cowards! I Hen. IV, 
II iv 127. 

d. Of=as regards. 

Cornwall : he shall never more Be fear'd of doing 
harm. Lear, II i 113. 

e. To=besides, in addition to. 

Nurse: seek happy nights to happy days. R. and 
J., I iii 106. 

f. To=in comparison with. 

Prospero : To the most of men this is a Caliban. 
Tp., I ii 480. 



56 SHAKSPERE 

Lady Macbeth : these flaws and starts. Impostors 

to true fear. Mac. Ill iv 64. 

33. And or an is usd in its former sense of if, 

often in the doubled form and if. (And was S.'s 

form in most cases, but modern editions generally alter 

to an). 

Hermia: Speak, an if you hear. M. X. D.. II ii 
153. 
■ 34. As is sometimes usd with a noun-phrase or adverb of 
time in the same indefinitly emfatic sense as in our (identi- 
cal) usage as yet. 

Cassius : as this very day Was Cassius born. T. C. V 
i 72. 

35. But=Except. Caesar: But being charg'd, we will be 
still by land. A. and C„ IV xi 1. 

36. Whether is sometimes usd together with or for em- 
fasis. 

Bassanio : Or whether . . Seem thev in motion? M. 
of V.. Ill ii 118. 

Y, VERBS 

37. Intransitiv verbs are often usd transitivly 
also. 

Romeo: expire the term. R. and J., I iv 109. 

38. More verbs are usd impersonally than at 
present; especially the verbs like and please, in such 
expressions as: if it like yon, so please yon. (Our 
present personal use of these verbs, if yon like, if yon 
please, which is also common in Shakspere. is a cor- 
ruption of the original impersonal use). 



GRAMMAR 57 

39. Some verbs which in present usage take a direct ob- 
ject are followed by prepositions. E. g. ; encounter with 
for encounter; chide at for chide. 

40. In many instances a plural subject is followd 
by a verb in the third person singular (present in- 
dicativ — tho most modern editions arbitrarily alter 
to the plural form). 

Luciana: 111 deeds is doubl'd with an evil word. 

C. of E., Ill ii 20. 
Northumberland : These high wild hills and rough 
uneven ways Draws out our miles and makes 
them wearisome. Rich. II, II iii 5. 
This is especially common with the verbs hath and 
doth. 

Camillo : their encounters . . hath been royally 
attorney'd. W. T., I i 29. 
The probabl explanation is that the third singular 
form, as the most common, had a tendency to crowd 
out the other forms ; but there may have been influ- 
ence also from the old plural form in -eth of the 
Southern dialect, and the corresponding form in -es 
of the Northern dialect. 

41. A noun intervening between another noun 
and its verb generally "attracts" the verb to its 
own number. 

Leontes: The very thought of my revenges that 
way Recoil upon me. W. T., II iii 19. 

42. The subjunctiv mode is much more commonly 



58 SHAKSPERE 

usd than at present, often after if, often in instances 
where we now employ forms with the auxiliary verbs 
may, shall, should, etc. 

Horatio: If he steal aught. Ham. Ill ii 93. 
Don Pedro : She were [would be] an excellent 

wife for Benedick. Much Ado, II i 366. 
Plebeian: 'Twere [it would be] best he speak 
[should speak] no harm of Brutus here. J. 
C, III ii 73. 
Banquo: Go not my horse the better. Mac. Ill 
i 26. 
In those forms (chiefly of the plural number and 
of the past tenses) where the indicativ and subjunctiv 
forms are identical, the mode is shown only by the 
context or the position of the verb. Of course in the 
majority of instances these indications are decisiv, but 
sometimes the mode remains ambiguous (as often at 
present). 

Clearly subjunctiv: Hamlet: Angels and ministers 

of grace defend us! Ham., I iv 39. 
Ambiguous : Ferdinand : Vouchsafe my prayer 
May know if you remain upon this island. 
Tp., I ii 423. 
43. The subjunctiv be is usd in all forms of the 
present tense to indicate dout, uncertainty, etc., in 
many instances where we should use the indicativ, am. 
are, is, etc. 



GRAMMAR 59 

Hamlet : Be thou a spirit of health or goblin 

damn'd. Ham. I iv 40. 
Lear: Be my horses ready? Lear I v 36. 

44. Likewise in the past tense the subjunctiv 
yvere is usd more freely than at present, somtimes, as in 
the following instance, with a subtile emfasis on the 
idea of dout: 

Antony: If it were so it was a grievous fault. J. 
C, III ii 84. 

45. Historically, the infinitiv form with to was 
originally the gerund, or verbal noun, with either activ 
or passiv meaning, and in Shakspere more often than 
at present it retains the passiv sense, or the to conveys 
a meaning which at present we should express by for, 
in, if, etc. 

Hamlet: This thing's to do. Ham., IV iv 44. 
Messenger: To fright you thus, methinks, I am 
too savage. Mac, IV ii 70. 

46. Shall and should are usd more often than at present 
with the idea of inevitabl futurity, what is certain to happen. 

Lady Macbeth : If much you note him You shall offend 
him. Mac, III iv 57. 

47. Will in the first person always denotes action of the 
will (not mere futurity), as it should at present also. 

VI. PUNCTUATION 

48. It is altogether improbabl that Shakspere ever 
saw any of his plays thro the press. The spelling 



60 SHAKSPERE 

and punctuation, therefore, of the editions of his time 
and the following period, namely the quartos and 
folios, have littl more authority than what belongs to 
the typesetters and proof-readers of the Elizabethan 
printing establishments, who were almost uniformly 
extremely careless. In fact, the quartos and folios 
are generally so wretchedly printed that modern ed- 
itors not only, of necessity, emend the text with the 
utmost freedom, but come near disregarding the orig- 
inal punctuation altogether. It is naturally true, to be 
sure, that the punctuation of the early editions repre- 
sents in a general w r ay certain principles in which 
Elizabethan usage systematically differd from that of 
our time, principles which may be summd up by say- 
ing that Elizabethan punctuation w r as prevailingly 
rhetorical, while ours is prevailingly logical. But for 
modern editors to attempt to restore the Elizabethan 
theory in any consistent form would not only be a 
hopeless task, but would result in more confusion than 
advantage to the student. The best method for a 
modern editor, which has been largely followd in 
practis, is to repunctuate in accordance with our own 
system, only retaining such elements of the Elizabethan 
theory as seem not too incongruous. 



V. SHAKSPERE'S VERSE AND PROSE. 

49. Prose occurs in S.'s plays sometimes in com- 
plete scenes, sometimes intermixt with the verse. It is 
systematically usd (tho not with rigid consistency), 
for one or more of the following reasons : 

a. As the speech of uneducated, absurd, or com- 

monplace persons, or in scenes of correspond- 
ing nature. 

b. For variety or contrast with more important 
or more poetic scenes or passages, or for va- 
riety in general. 

c. In letters (correspondence) and proclamations. 
The quartos and folios not seldom misprint verse 

as prose and vice versa. It is quite possibl that some 
connected passages still printed as prose in modern 
editions should be corrected into verse in accordance 
with principles set forth below. See also below, sec- 
tion 56. 

50. Shakspere's Verse is the familiar iambic penta- 
meter. In the theoretical normal form each line con- 
sists of ten syllables with a stress on each alternate 
syllabi, beginning with the second. But in all verse 
the most elementary sense for variety requires that 



62 SHAKSPERE 

this regular structure shall be perpetually modified in 
a multitude of ways — by insertion or omission of 
unstresst syllables, by shifting of the stresses and vari- 
ation of their relativ emfasis, by variation in the po- 
sition of pauses, and so on. The practis and compre- 
hension of all these matters, at least in a large degree, 
are instinctiv with any person of reasonabl intelli- 
gence and ordinary sense of rhythm ; and the main 
principl for the reading of S.'s verse, or of any other, 
is to read it naturally, without expecting any difficulty. 
After this is said, however, two qualifications must at 
once be added : 

a. The Elizabethan pronunciation differd from 
ours perceptibly in details, not only as regards singl 
sounds (where the difference does not affect the 
meter), but often in syllabification. 

b. The wretched printing of the original texts 
( aside from the failure of all writing and printing to 
represent spokn sounds exactly) is a source of some 
troubl. 

The following paragrafs deal with the more im- 
portant matters which fall under these heads. 

51. In some dissyllabic and polysyllabic words 
Shakspere's accent falls on a different syllabi than 
with us. These are mostly words of Latin or Greek 
origin, and the Shaksperean accent generally corre- 
sponds to that of the original language or of the 



VERSE AND PROSE 63 

French thro which the word has passt; later usage 
has generally assimilated the word to the English 
system. E. g., Shakspere has: aspect (always); 
character; detestable; envy' ; exile. But occasionally 
he assimilates to the English system a word which 
has ultimately kept its foreign stress; e. g\, complete. 
52. In general, the Elizabethan pronunciation was 
evidently more rapid than ours. As a result the 
Elizabethans omitted or slurrd many unemfatic syl- 
lables which with us, generally, or at least more often, 
are pronounct. 

a. In the elision of a final vowel before a word be- 
ginning with a vowel or h their usage was substantially 
like ours. But we may note that frequent elision be- 
fore one indicates that it was pronounct un. 

b. There is often omission of prefixes, either in 
printing or in pronunciation. E. g. : 'bate for abate ; 
'cause for because ; dear'd for endear 'd; 'lated for be- 
lated; ragd for enragd. 

c. As at present, in pronunciation there is frequent 
slurring or omission of unstresst medial syllables. E. 
g. : whe'r for whether; e'er for ever; ell (once printed 
eale) for evil; hating for having; be'ng for being. A 
few lines : 

King Henry: I am a gent (le) man of a companv. 
Hen. V, IV i 39. 



64 SHAKSPERE 

Polonius: And ted(i)ousness the limbs and out- 
ward flour (t)'shes. Ham., II ii 91. 

Lear: The im(a)ges of revolt and flying off. 
Lear, II iv 91. 

d. There is frequent slurring or omission of suf- 
fixes and other weak final syllables. 

Polixenes: Far [farther] than Deucalion off. [So 
the Folio prints]. W. T., IV iv 441. 

Macbeth: The rest isjab(owr) which is not us'd 
for you. 

I'll be myself the harbinger) and make joyful. 
Mac. I iv 44-45. 

e. In words ending in -ed: 

(1) In general the -ed was pronounct or not, 
according to the needs of the meter. 

(2) But in many cases where we should omit 
-ed, the printing (the use of the \ erratic as it 
is) indicates that the Elizabethan pronuncia- 
tion omitted insted an earlier unstresst vowel, 
e - g"-> fright'ned insted of frighten' d. 

(3) When the stem of the word ends in -t or 
-d the -ed is often not writtn and generally 
not pronounct. So: avoid' for avoided, etc. 

Modern editions should be (but are not) carefully 
printed according to the probabl actual Elizabethan 
pronunciation in each individual case. 



VERSE AND PROSE 65 

f. Such contractions occur as this for this is. 

g. For possessiv and plural forms of words ending 
in sibilants, see above, section 14. 

h. In proper names there is especially likely to be 
conspicuous slurring. The following is a singl com- 
plete line : 

John Duke of Alencon, Anthony Duke of Brabant. 
Hen. V, IV viii 101. 
53. In some cases, however, the Elizabethan pro- 
nunciation was slower than ours. 

a. In polysyllabic w r ords in w r hich the next-to-the- 
last syllabi is -/- or -c-, the -i- or -e- is often pronounct 
as a separate syllabi in Shakspere, tho not in present 
usage. 

Salarino: Your mind is tossing on the oc^an. M. 

of V., I i 8. 
Albany: With the anc/ent of war on our pro- 
ceeding. Lear V i 32. 
Most important here are the words in -ion. 
King Henry: This day shall gentle his condition. 
Hen. Y, IY iii 63. 

b. -r- and -/- are often prolongd into complete 
syllables, or at least so prolongd as to help complete 
the meter of an otherwise incomplete line. 

(1) -r- medial. Lady Macbeth: That croaks the 
fatal ent[>] ranee of Duncan. Mac, I v 40. 



66 SHAKSPERE 

Macbeth: And betimes I will, to the weir[r]d sis- 
ters. Mac, III iv 133. 

(2) -er final. Enobarbus : Frighted each other. 
Why should he follow? A. and C, III xiii 6. 

(3) Monosyllables ending in -r or -re. 
Macduff : Died ev(e)ry day she liv'd. Far[r]e 
thee well. Mac, IV iii 111. 

(4) -/- medial. Bagot: Than Bolingbroke's re- 
turn to Eng[/]land. Rich. II, IV i 17. 

c. Sometimes emfatic monosyllables (other than 
those alredy mentiond) seem to have the metrical 
value of two syllables. 

Is he pursued? Ay [3'], my good lord. Lear II. 
i 111. 

54. Sometimes a metrical pause takes the place of 
an unstresst syllabi. This principl and the one just 
stated often cooperate, as probably in the examples 
givn under 53 b (2), (3), and c. 

55. Exclamations, such as He, and brief interrup- 
tions by other speakers, seem sometimes, as in Greek, 
to be treated as extra-metrical, i. e., to be disregarded 
in the verse-structure. 

56. It is altogether probabl that many lines and 
short passages which we now print and read as 
prose or imperfect lines intersperst in the midst of 
scenes in verse should be reprinted as verse in ac- 



VERSE AND PROSE 67 

cordance with the principles just stated (tho the re- 
storation, often involving emendation of the text, 
would often be difficult and uncertain). 

57. In Shakspere, as in every poetic dramatist, 
many singl lines are divided between two speakers. 
In such cases good editions indicate the actual verse- 
structure by beginning the words of the second speaker 
— which necessarily stand in. the next printed line 
below those of the first speaker — at the same distance 
from the margin as if there were no change of 
speaker, i. e., in the middl of the line. 

58. But after all verse-principles have been con- 
siderd and all corrections have been made in text and 
edition, there remain in Shakspere some brief metrical 
fas well as prose) passages and parts of lines which 
probably never corresponded to the regular penta- 
meter line-structure. 

a. Brokn (incomplete) lines are sometimes usd 
not only in general for variety, but to indicate sur- 
prise, anger, or incoherence in the speaker. 

b. There are occasional Alexandrine lines, i. e., 
lines of six stresses. It is always possibl that a poet, 
following the general movement of the iambic rhythm, 
shall occasionally write such lines without being con- 
scious that they diverge from the regular pentameter 
type. 



VI. THE RANGE OF SHAKSPERE'S PLAYS, 

AND THE TYPES TO WHICH THEY 

BELONG. 

Shakspere's plays, takn together, represent most of 
the kinds common on the popular stage of his day. 

The classical distinction between Comedy and Tra- 
gedy had been largely establisht in England shortly 
before he began to write (tho almost all English dra-' 
matists continued to mingl comic scenes in their tra- 
gedies). It is much clearer in his plays than in those 
of our own time. 

In Comedy his successes include plays of several 
more or less sharply separable kinds. Love's Labour's 
Lost is an early experiment in Comedy of sparkling 
Conversation ; and The Comedy of Errors in clever 
Plot and Situation (in the farcical Latin fashion). 
In the field of the characteristically Elizabethan Ro- 
mantic Comedy, delightful and delicate, belong A Mid- 
summer Night's Dream, As You Like It, and Twelfth 
Night. The early experimental Two Gentlemen of 
Verona and the masterly Much Ado About Nothing 
(in its nominally secondary action) belong largely to 
the Comedy of Character. The Taming of the Shrew 



RANGE OF PLAYS 69 

and The Merry Wives of Windsor are frank farces, 
and The Merry Wives is also an Intrigue Comedy in 
the Continental manner. Further, there are the final 
Romances, where tragic possibilities and facts are pre- 
sented in an atmosfere of determind happiness, 
namely Cymbeline, The Winter's Tale, and The Tem- 
pest; less conspicuously Pericles. 

Of technically " Satirical" comedies, like Ben Jon- 
son's, where the author's attitude toward the central 
character is unfriendly, Shakspere has no complete ex- 
ampl ; but the Malvolio-action in Twelfth Night is of 
this sort, and Shylock in The Merchant of Venice is 
for the most part similarly treated. Among the Chron- 
icle-History Plays of which we shall speak in a mo- 
ment, it may here be observd, Richard III is of the 
Satirical-tragedy type. 

In that class of plays which are best calld Interme- 
diate (between Comedy and Tragedy), because while 
they are happy in prevailing tone or in outcome, or 
both, they have a tragic element, belongs one of the 
main actions of The Merchant of Venice ; and indeed 
the nominally main action of Much Ado also. Perhaps 
the name Intermediate may be applied as well as any 
other to the cynical All's Well That Ends Well, 
Measure for Measure, and Troilus and Cressida. 

In Tragedy, defind as a play in which the outcome 
is disastrous, whether in the material or in the spiritual 



70 SHAKSPERE s 

realm, for the main character or characters, belong 
Shakspere's most enduring achievments. The range 
here is from the tragedy of youthful love in Romeo 
and Juliet, where disaster does not after all win a real 
victory over the joy and beauty of life, thro the half- 
personal, half-political struggles of Julius Caesar, the 
sheer bitterness of Timon of Athens, and the passion- 
ate careless ruin of Antony and Cleopatra, to the pro- 
found grappling with the central problems of life in 
the four supreme plays, Hamlet, Othello, King Lear, 
and Macbeth. 

Nearly a third of Shakspere's plays belong to a 
species which was brot into existence in England by 
particular circumstances a few years before he began 
to write and which is not precisely paralleld in any 
other literature or period, namely the Chronicle-His- 
tory Play. The plays of this type are a result of the 
patriotic national consciousness and pride which were 
awakend in England by the development of the coun- 
try under the Tudor monarchs and by the struggl with 
Spain which culminated in the defeat of the Spanish 
Armada in 1588. The peopl, rousd to a high pitch of 
enthusiasm, became interested in their former history ; 
and the drama, the intellectual clearing-house of the 
day, as it has been calld, was the effectiv medium for 
making this history known to them. The Chronicle- 
History plays began to be writtn shortly after 1580, 



RANGE OF PLAYS 71 

were very popular during the 1590s, and virtually 
died out (being partly mergd with tragedy) in the 
following decade. The most distinctiv plays of the 
class deal each with the events of the reign of one 
English king, in whole or in part. They have certain 
markt characteristics. Of these, one is a rather per- 
sistent tendency to long declamatory speeches. This 
style was partly intended at first, no dout, to suggest 
the stateliness of court life and the dignty of the nobl 
persons represented, hut it soon hardend into a speeia'i 
convention. It was a general convention from the 
beginning, being a continuance of the bombastic style 
of the medieval drama and the formativ period of 
tragedy. Certain other peculiarities of the Chronicle- 
History type, however, go deeper : 

Since the object of these plays was as much ex- 
pository as dramatic and they were therefore likely 
to include many or most of the important political 
events of the period dealt with, they were for the most 
part especially lacking in unity — unity of action ; unity 
of time (they often cover a dozen years, or even 
more); and unity of • place (for exampl, Henry V, 
where the scene is partly in England, partly in 
France). For the same reason they included a large 
number of characters, most of whom could not be 
clearly characterized. Shakspere, however, working 



72 SHAKSPERE 

toward the perfection of this form, as of all others, 
often securd a large measure of unity by centering 
attention on the spiritual issues and the main char- 
acters. In fact, he virtually identified the Chron- 
icle-History with Tragedy in King Lear, Macbeth, 
and Cymbeline ; for while he draws the material 
for these, plays largely- from the same sources which 
he uses in his distinctivly Chronicle-History plays, 
draws it, namely, from Holinshed's Chronicle ana 
similar histories, in these plays he retains none of the 
Chronicle-History peculiarities or atmosfere. This is 
almost equally true of his Roman history plays, Julius 
Caesar, Antony and Cleopatra, and Coriolanus, which, 
like King Lear and Macbeth, are always classified as 
tragedies. 



VII. DATES, ORDER, AND SOURCES OF THE 

PLAYS. 

The Evidence for Shakspere 's Authorship of the 
Plays Assignd to Him. 

The majority of S.'s plays were publisht during his 
lifetime in quartos (small paper-coverd booklets), and 
most of the quartos bore his name or initials. But 
this evidence in itself is not always conclusiv, since 
after he had gaind a reputation dishonest publishers 
sometimes put his initials on works of other men. 
Evidence like the list of twelve plays of Shakspere 
givn by Francis Meres in 1598 in his "Palladis Tamia, 
Wits Treasury," and some other statements and refer- 
ences, are valid. But the most important external evi- 
dence is that afrorded by the First Folio edition ot 
Shakspere's plays, of 1623. In this book S.'s fellow 
managers of the Globe Theater, John Heminge and 
Henry Condell, aimd to collect all of his plays. They 
admitted some plays whose style shows them to be 
only in part the work of Shakspere ; but later criti- 
cism has made it pretty certain that they included 
nothing which is not at least in some part his, and, 



74 SHAKSPERE 

with the singl exception of the unimportant "Pericles," 
probably included all the plays existing at the present 
time, and presumably in 1623, in which he had any 
important share. For in most of his plays the "in- 
ternal evidence" of his individual power and style is 
so strong that there is no mistaking his authorship. 
"Pericles/ 7 however, which is without dout partly his, 
was omitted from the First Folio, and first included in 
the Third Folio, of 1663. 

We have no space, nor is there any reason, for dis- 
cussing the theory that Bacon or anyone else than 
Shakspere is the author of S.'s plays. 

That theory cannot be held at the present time by any 
competent person, that is by any student of sound judg- 
ment who is reasonably familiar with human nature and with 
Literature in general and the literature of the Elizabethan 
period in particular. The following summary statements may 
be made: 1. Our lack of information about Shakspere's life- 
is no greater than in the case of many other writers of his 
time, and is not in the least surprizing, since his unique 
greatness could not be recognizd in his own way. 2. The 
many-sided knowledge shown in the plays is by no means 
impossibl for a man with no more school education than 
Shakspere had probably enjoyd, his genius being takn into 
account. This knowledge is not at all that of a scholar, but 
that of a keen-minded and wide-awake man of a diversified 
practical experience; some of it is transferrd directly from 
the books which are the sources of the plays. 3. It is ut- 
terly impossibl that Bacon could have writtn the plays : a, be- 
cause his crowded career left him no time to do it; and 
b, because his mind, as shown in his career and all his writings, 



DATES AND SOURCES 75 

was of the scientific, not of the imaginativ. type. He could 
no more have writtn these plays than he could have writtn 
Wagner's operas. 4. The cypher-systems which have been 
"discovered" in the plays are both essentially absurd and 
hopelessly self-contradictory. No writer composing such a 
masterpiece of thot and feeling as "Hamlet" could possibly 
be bent at the same time on inserting in it a scatterd hid- 
den message according to a complicated numerical system. 
It has been mathematically demonstrated that the coinci- 
dences in word-recurrence adduced by the cypher-manipu- 
lators in Shakspere's plays are no more numerous than the 
law of numerical probabilites reiqures; and anyone who is 
sufficiently silly or idl can discover for himself that similar 
cyphers can be torturd out of any writing whatever and 
made to prove anything that one pleases. Moreover, the 
cypherists have reduced their own system to an absurdity by 
making it "prove" that Bacon wrote not only Shakspere's 
plays but an impossibly large part of the other literature of 
his time, and even later. No one has takn the troubl to 
write a comprehensiv refutation of all the anti-Shakspere 
arguments, but somewhat general and not altogether un- 
satisfactory discussions are those of : John Fiske, "Forty 
Years of Bacon-Shakespeare Folly", in "A Centurv of 
Science" (Houghton Mifflin) ; and Andrew Lang, "Shakes- 
peare, Bacon, and the Great Unknown" (Longmans). 

The Kinds of Evidence for the Order and Dates of 
Shakspere's Plays 

We have alredy stated that the contemporary edi- 
tions of Shakspere's plays, the quartos and folios, were 
for the most part very badly printed. The quartos, 
moreover, were got out more or less accidentally and at 
haphazard ; sometimes by piratical publishers ; some- 



76 SHAKSPERE 

times to head off such enterprises ; never voluntarily 
by Shakspere or his company at the time of the first 
acting of the plays (because that would tend to de- 
crease attendance at the theater). The First Folio, in 
spite of the editors' declaration to the contrary, was 
carelessly done, and the order in which it prints the 
plays has no significance whatever as regards dates of 
composition. Consequently the chronological order 
and the dates of the plays generally have to be de- 
termind by more or less indefinit inference. Investi- 
gation and study, however, have brot to light a mass 
of evidence which determines the general order and 
most of the dates in an approximate and reasonably 
satisfactory fashion. 

The chief kinds of evidence are these : 

I. EXTERNAL 

1. The dates of publication, in the case of plays 
publisht during Shakspere's lifetime in dated quartos. 

2. Entries of plays by the printers in the Register 
of the Stationers' [Book and Paper Men's] Company, 
which entries corresponded to present-day copyright. 
The entry was made sometimes at the time of publica- 
tion, sometimes considerably earlier. 

3. Evidence of one sort or another about the company 
which acted a play, in cases where the time of the company's 
activity is known; or the specification of the theater where it 
was performed. 

4. Mention of the plays or allusions to them in 



DATES AND SOURCES 77 

contemporary documents of known dates. Most im- 
portant here is Meres' list of 1598. 

All this external evidence serves to show only the 
date before which a play was writtn ; it gives littl or no 
indication how much earlier the play may have been 
composd. 

II. PARTLY EXTERNA!,, PARTLY INTERNAL 

Allusions in the plays to events of known date, or 
quotations from or allusions to books of known date. 

III. INTERNAL 

The internal evidence also seldom determines the 
date precisely ; but in most cases it is in itself conclusiv 
as to the general period of Shakspere's career to which 
each play must belong. 

A. The comparativ maturity of mind and char- 
acter shown by Shakspere in the plays. His know- 
ledge of character, his consciousness of the problems 
and meaning of life, his power to present and interpret 
these things, his imagination, his sense of humor and 
pathos and the like qualities, developt and maturd re- 
markably and stedily during his twenty years of au- 
thorship. In all these respects there is a world of dif- 
ference between such a mature play as Macbeth and an 
early one like Love's Labour's Lost. 

B. His comparativ mastery of dramatic technique 
— plot-structure, etc. 



78 SHAKSPERE 

C. His general style, which develops from com- 
parativ thinness, with a good deal of verbal quibbling, 
in the early plays, into delightful poetic fancifulness 
in the better comedies and in Romeo and Juliet ; into 
magnificently condenst imaginativ energy in the great 
tragedies; and into a somewhat less intense but per- 
haps still more confidently masterful power and gen- 
iality in the final Romances. 

D. Specific tests from verse-style. 

1. Signs of early workmanship. 

a. The lines are mostly "end-stoppt", i. e., have 

pauses, generally indicated by marks of punc- 
tuation, at the end. 

b. The lines rather uniformly have "strong" end- 

ings, i. e., end in nouns, verbs, adjectivs, and 
in general such words as are naturally em- 
fatic. 

c. There is considerabl use of rime, sometimes 

feminin rime (rime including the last two 
syllables of the words), and quatrains, son- 
nets, or similar verse forms. 

2. Signs of later workmanship. 

a. The lines are largely "run-on", i. e., without 

pauses at the ends. This abandonment of the 
monotonously "end-stoppt" arrangment gives 
far greater metrical flexibility and beauty. 

b. There are a good many "weak" and "light" 

endings, i. e., lines ending with unemfatic 
words, such as an auxiliary verb like be, hare. 



DATES AND SOURCES 79 

etc., a preposition or conjunction. (The 
word "weak" is usd to designate words still 
less emfatic than the "light" ones; but the 
distinction is not important). This indicates 
a tendency to break down the dividing line 
between verse and prose and is an incidental 
sign of entire mastery of the verse-form, but 
poetically is in itself on the whole rather a 
flaw than a merit. 
c. There is some use of feminin endings (in lines 
which do not rime) — the line ending in a 
word which has an unstresst syllabi after the 
stresst one. The effect is to add to the line 
a metrically superfluous unstresst syllabi. 

Shakspere's Sources 

It is a matter of common knowledge that Shaks- 
pere, like many authors of his time and earlier, took 
the stories and something of the substance of most of 
his plays from earlier works, concentrating his mag- 
nificent creativ energy on the development of the 
stories and characters. The sources on which he drew 
have been pretty thoroly hunted down for each play. 
The detaild statements which here follow will show 
that in general he usd several different sorts of sources, 
which may be groupt thus : 

1. For the English History plays, the Chronicles 
of Holinshed (pronounct Holins-hed) and other Six- 
teenth Century writers. 



80 SHAKSPERE 

2. For the Roman plays, Plutarch's lives, in Sir 
Thomas North's translation (1579) of Amyot's French 
translation. 

3. For the tragedies and comedies, various stories, 
mostly short and mostly in prose, some of them Italian, 
some English, some in collections of short stories ; also 
occasional pamflets, etc. 

4. In a few cases, earlier English plays. 

In the historical plays, both English and Roman, 
Shakspere generally uses as much as possibl of the 
material furnisht him, often in a remarkably minute 
way. But even where he is least original he trans- 
forms the whole, splendidly vitalizing the bare out- 
lines and interpreting and creating character thro the 
power of his genius and poetic imagination. In the 
comedies and tragedies his sources serve him only as 
starting points. These stories are almost always very 
brief and crude narrativs of mere adventure, often 
cheap and sensational. Shakspere humanizes, elevates, 
and develops them almost beyond recognition, and he 
often adds several characters and one or more import- 
ant sub-action. Like other writers of his time, he 
was content to receiv his impulse from without ; but 
everything that makes his plays so supremely great is 
peculiarly his own. 

Shakspere 's General Professional Development 

Shakspere seems to have left Stratford and gone to 
seek his fortune in London about 1586-88. Xo dout 



DATES AND SOURCES 81 

he was first employd about a theater in minor or mis- 
cellaneous capacities, as a stage hand, prompter's as- 
sistant, copier of parts for the actors, or what not. 
He must soo*n have givn evidence of his dramatic in- 
terest and gifts, have been tried and takn on as an 
apprentice-actor, and soon have made his start as a 
writer of plays ; first, presumably, by helping to re- 
vamp old plays for revivals, then by working in col- 
laboration with older writers, and finally as an inde- 
pendent author. Very remarkbl is the rapidity of his 
progress from early experimentation to superb mastery 
in the composition of plays, and, on the activ and busi- 
ness sides of the profession, from apprentice to paid 
actor and writer, then to shareholder and member of 
the inner circle of managers of the company. Twenty 
years, or at most twenty-five, cover his whole dra- 
matic career, from his arrival in London to his retire- 
ment to Stratford as a wealthy gentleman, secure (tho 
he did not know it) of a place perhaps the highest 
among the writers of the world. 

A List of Shakspere's Plays in Approximate Order, 

with the Important Known Facts about 

Dates and Sources 

The less important plays are here put into finer 
print. 

I. PERIOD OF EXPERIMENT 

About 1588 to about 1593 
The Three Parts of Henry VI. The Second and Third 
Parts are probably revisions of two other plays (still pre- 



\ 



82 SHAKSPERE 

servd), "The First Part of the Contention of the Two Fa- 
mous Houses of Yorke and Lancaster," and "The True 
Tragedie of Richard Duke of Yorke." All five plays are 
basd, directly or ultimately, on Holinshed's and other Chron- 
icles. Shakspere is not the sole author. He was apparently 
either a collaborator or a reviser in all three parts of Henry 
VI, and may have had some share in the two earlier plays. 

Love's Labour's Lost. The evidence of very early 
date (probably about 1590) is in the general imma- 
turity of thot and style and the slightness of the dra- 
matic structure. The quarto of 1598 states that Shaks- 
pere had revisd the play [no dout in 1597 or 1598]. 
This and The Tempest are the only two plays of Shaks- 
pere for which no real source is known. There is 
some slight influence from recent and current events, 
especially in the appropriation of the names of promi- 
nent living French lords for some of the characters. 

Tzvo Gentlemen of Verona. Mentiond by Meres, 1598. 
Evidence of earlier date, general immaturity. Source, one 
of the romances in the Diana Enamorada of the Spaniard 
or Portuguese Jorge de Montemayor ; but Shakspere greatly 
enlarges, and adds characters and essential plot-elements. 

The Comedy of Errors. There is a record of its 
acting in December, 1594. Source, Plautus' Me- 
naechmi, with much enlargement and improvement by 
Shakspere. 

Titus Andronicus. A crude and bloody old English tra- 
gedy, more or less workt over by Shakspere. Publisht in 
quarto, 1594. 

Richard III. First quarto, 1597. Style (influence 
of Marlowe) suggests a date of about 1593. Source, 



DATES AND SOURCES 83 

HolinshecTs Chronicle, perhaps with influence from 
other works. Shakspere makes important additions 
and improvements for dramatic effect. 

[Shakspere's two narrativ poems, Venus and Adonis, and 
The Rape of Lucrece. retellings of popular classical stories, 
were publisht respectivly in 1593 and 1594], 

II. PERIOD OF CHROXICLE-HISTORY PLAYS AND ROMANTIC 

COMEDIES 

About 1594 to about 1600 
Midsummer Night's Dream. Mentiond by Meres, 
1598. The nature of the play suggests that it was 
writtn for a wedding, which may perhaps be assumd 
(there is no evidence) to be that of the Earl of Derby, 
which was celebrated at Court in 1594. Sources; 
merely suggestions for secondary features from such 
accounts of Theseus as Chaucer's Knight's Tale and 
the North-Amyot-Plutarch Life of Theseus ; also pop- 
ular fairy-lore, tho Shakspere himself creates much of 
the conception of fairies which makes so much of the 
charm of the play and has prevaild in England and 
America ever since. 

Richard II. First quarto, 1597. Style suggests 
date of about 1594. Source, Holinshed's Chronicle 
and Stowe's Annals. Shakspere modifies largely, for 
dramatic effect, and largely creates the character of 
Richard. 

King John. Mentiond by Meres, 1598. Style suggests 
date of about 1595. Source, a former play, The Trouble- 



84 SHAKSPERE 

some Raigne of John, King of England, which Shakspere 
has rather hastily workt over. 

Merchant of Venice. Enterd in Stationers' Reg- 
ister and mentioned by Meres in 1598. Style suggests 
about 1596. Source: The two chief actions (1) That 
of The Pound of Flesh, and (2) That of the choice by 
The Caskets, were widely current in many forms for 
centuries before Shakspere. His earliest distinguishabl 
source was probably a crude tale in II Pecorone, a 
collection of stories by the Florentine Ser Giovanni, 
which besides combining the story of The Pound of 
Flesh with a wooing-action (without the Caskets) 
adds the ring incident. Shakspere's immediate source, 
however, (presumably the only one which he usd) was 
probably an old English play dealing with a Jew, which 
is now lost but is mentiond in a pamflet of 1579. 
Probably Shakspere himself added the Lorenzo-Jess- 
ica action and Launcelot and the remarkably skilful 
structure, as well as all the beauty and vitality. 

Romeo and Juliet. Passages in early style suggest 
that it was first writtn in the early '90s. The prob- 
ably pirated first quarto, of 1597, probably represents 
a revisd form; and Shakepere may have further (less 
extensivly) revisd the play a year or two later. This 
story, also, goes back to the great body of traditional 
fiction. The Italian Da Porto, about 1530, is the first 
known author to use the names Romeo and Juliet and 
to locate the storv in Verona. It was retold in various 



DATES AND SOURCES 85 

Italian and French versions. Shakspere's direct 
sources were: (1) A long clumsy poem by Arthur 
Brooke, 1562. (2) A version in Painter's Palace of 
Pleasure fan English collection of tales, of 1567). 
(3) An English play now lost, referrd to by Brooke. 

The Tzi>o Parts of Henry IV. Part I printed in 
quarto, 1598. Part II referrd to in Jonsoirs Every 
Man Out of his Humour, 1599. Dates, therefore, 
perhaps 1597-8. Sources: The serious action from 
Holinshed ; the comic action suggested by a very 
crude old play, The Famous Victories of Henry the 
Fifth; but the characters of Hotspur and Falstaff, and 
everything of any value in the whole comic action, are 
substantially Shakspere's creation. 

Henry V. Date probably 1599, because the Chorus 
prefixt to Act V alludes to the campaign of [the Earl 
of Essex] in Ireland (1599) as being in progress. 
Sources : same as for Henry IV. 

The Taming of the Shrew. Evidence for date purely in- 
ternal and altogether uncertain. Source, an earlier play, 
The Taming of a Shrew, which was publisht 1594. Shak- 
spere's play was first printed in the Folio. 

The Merry Wives of Windsor. Date : Enterd in Station- 
ers' Register 1602; probably writtn after Henry IV, per- 
haps, as later tradition says, because Queen Elizabeth wisht 
to see Falstaff in love; date therefore may be 1598-1600. Xo 
direct source has been identified, but the general plot is 
common. 

Much Ado About Nothing. Publisht 1600; not 



86 SHAKSPERE 

mentioned by Meres; therefore 1599 is a plausibl date. 
The Hero-Claudio action is mainly from a story in the 
Italian Bandello's collection ; no source is known for 
the Benedick-Beatrice action. 

As You Like It. Enterd in Stationers' Register, 
1600; not mentiond by Meres; date therefore perhaps 
about 1599. Source: Thomas Lodge's "novel" (tale) 
Rosalynde, of 1590. 

Twelfth Night. There is a record of its perform- 
ance in 1602 ; not mentioned by Meres ; date probably 
1598-1601. Most direct source, Barnabe Riche's story. 
Apolonius and Silla, of 1581, or possibly a lost play 
founded on it. 

[Shakspere's 154 Sonnets, his best poetry outside his 
plays, were publisht piratically in 1609. Two of the 
sonnets had been piratically printed in 1599; and in 
1598 Meres alluded to Shakspere's sonnets as circulat- 
ing among his private friends. Many of them are too 
good to be assignd to an early date. There is no 
other evidence except very uncertain inference for the 
time of their composition. 

A few other brief narrativ and lyric poems doutfully 
ascribd to Shakspere are entirely insignificant.] 

III. PERIOD OF THE GREAT TRAGEDIES 

About 1600 to about 1609 
Julius Caesar. Xot mentiond by Meres ; alluded to 
in a book of 1601; probabl date, therefore, 1598-1601. 



DATES AND SOURCES 87 

First publisht in the Folio. Source, Plutarch's Lives 
of Caesar, Brutus, and Antony. Shakspere purposely 
degrades the character of Caesar and idealizes that of 
Brutus, who was really not by any means a perfect 
person. 

Troilus and Cressida, Entered in the Stationers' Register, 
1603; no other decisiv evidence of date. Sources: Chau- 
cer's Troilus and Criseyde and our English treatments of 
the Troy story. Internal evidence indicates that some parts 
are not by Shakspere. 

All's Well That Ends Well. Date perhaps more uncertain 
than that of any other of S.'s plays. First publisht in the 
Folio. Source, one of the stories in the Italian Boccaccio's 
Decameron. 

Measure for Measure. Date uncertain ; general similari- 
ties in spirit to Hamlet suggests shortly after 1600. First 
publisht in the Folio. Source, Whetstone's drama, Promos 
and Cassandra. 

Hamlet. The original version of the story is that 
in the legendary so-calld Danish History of the Dane 
Saxo Grammaticus, writtn in Latin about 1200. The 
French writer Belleforest retold it in an enlargd form, 
still very unlike Shakspere's play in details, in his His- 
toires Tragiques of 1570. Probably on this was basd 
an English play, perhaps writtn by Thomas Kyd, 
which is now lost but which was evidently a crude 
murder-and-revenge affair. This play is probably 
represented in miserably garbled form in an existing 
text of a German play acted by English players in 
Germany in the Seventeenth Century. Shakspere's 



88 SHAKSPERE 

source was no dout the earlier English play. His play 
was enterd in the Stationers' Register in 1602. A 
pirated first quarto, which almost certainly represents 
an early form of his play, was publisht in 1603. The 
second quarto, of 1604, is substantially the final form. 
Shakspere, therefore, was probably working on the 
play from at least as early as 1602 to 1604. 

Othello. Earlier possibl limit of date, 1601, which 
is that of the publication of Holland's translation of 
Pliny, usd in the play; the style is generally takn to 
indicate a date of about 1604. Source, a wretched 
story from the Italian Giraldi Cinthio's Hecatommithi 
(Hundred Stories). 

King Lear. Earlier possibl limit of date 1603, 
when Harsnett's Declaration of Egregious Popish Im- 
postures was entered in the Stationers' Register ; from 
this work Shakspere took the names of the devils men- 
tiond by Edgar; later limit, 1606, namd in the Sta- 
tioners' Register as the date of a stage-production of it. 
The story belongs to general popular tradition. It is 
first found attacht to King Lear in Geofifrey of Mon- 
mouth's pretended History of the Kings of Britain, 
1136. Shakspere's chief source for the main action 
was a very crude old play, tho he also usd other ver- 
sions of the story. With proper judgment, Shaks- 
pere made the outcome for Lear and Cordelia tragic 
insted of fortunate, as it had been in the earlier ver- 



DATES AND SOURCES 89 

sions. Shakspere adds the Gloucester-Edmund-Ed- 
gar action, with many changes, from an episode in 
Sidney's Arcadia. 

Macbeth. Earlier limit of date indicated by flatter- 
ing allusions in the play to King James, whose acces- 
sion was in 1603 ; later limit 1610, when a performance 
of it is recorded; about 1606 is the usual guess. 
Source, Holinshed. 

Timons of Athens. Evidence o f date purely internal; first 
printed in the Folio ; similarities in spirit to King Lear, and 
other considerations, suggest 1607-08. Sources, a paragraf 
on Timon in Plutarch's Life of Antony, and the Greek Lu- 
cian's dialog Timon, possibly thro some intermediate version. 
A considerabl part of the play is not by Shakspere but by 
some unknown inferior writer, who probably completed it 
after Shakspere had abandond it. 

Antony and Cleopatra. Entered in Stationers' Reg- 
ister (probably), 1608; and the style does not suggest 
an earlier date. First printed in the Folio. Source, 
Plutarch's Life of Antony. 

Pericles. Entered in Stationers' Register, 1608. Sources, 
the versions of the story of Apolonius of Tyre by Gower 
(Fourteenth Century) in his Confessio Amantis and by 
Twine (1576) in his Patterne of Painful Adventures. Partly 
by another writer, very likely the George Wilkins who in 
1608 publisht a prose rendering of the story. 

Coriolanus. Evidence of date purely internal, but 
points clearly to about 1609. First printed in the 
Folio. Source, Plutarch's Life of Coriolanus. 



90 SHAKSPERE • 

IV. PERIOD OF THE EIXAL ROMANCES 

(Probably with influence from the plays of Beaumont 
and Fletcher). About 1610 to about 1611 

Cymbeline. There is a record of its performance in 
either 1610 or 1611. Source, Holinshed, and a wide- 
spred romantic story, perhaps from a version in PJoc- 
cacio's Decameron. 

Winter s Tale. There is a record of its perform- 
ance in 1611. Source, Robert Greene's Pandosto, also 
calld The History of Dorastus and Fawnia, 1588. 

The Tempest. There is a record of its performance 
during the festivities at the marriage of King James' 
daughter Elizabeth to the Elector Palatine in 1613 ; 
and its nature suggests that it may have been writtn 
for that (or some other) wedding. First printed in 
the Folio. Some slight influence from accounts of the 
wrecking on the Bermudas of Sir George Somers' ship 
in 1609. 

Henry VIII. There is a record of its performance in 4 
1613. Source, chiefly Holinshed. The style shows that 
Shakspere is the author of less than half and that John 
Fletcher, the dramatist, is almost undoubtedly the author of 
the rest. 



SEP 13 1913 



